PM warns Muslims of divisive foreign doctrines
PUTRAJAYA, June 10 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak warned Muslims today from being divided and influenced by foreign doctrines based on violence and intolerance.
Najib said the foreign influence must be fought against to ensure Muslim unity and safeguard the teachings of Islam in the region.
“The problem began when foreign influences began to be absorbed and spread among the Muslims without them understanding and taking into account of the local environment. This is has led to the spread of the un-Islamic teachings based on violence and intolerance in the region.
“Indeed, we fee strange why on a platform of strengthening the Muslim unity, those that we have to face and fight are the Muslims,” he said during keynote speech here.
Najib (picture) stressed that Muslims must return to the ways of the Prophet Muhammad which emphasized moderation and not extremism because only through moderation can Islam be accepted by other communities.
He added that the principles of Islamic moderation could also be seen through the co-existence of difference race and religion in the country.
“Although Islam has been given a preeminence position in the constitution… other religions are guaranteed in the constitution and given freedom to practice,” he said.
Najib also said that the government has always been driven by a policy of integration instead of assimilation.
He explained that the principle of integration is in line with the Islamic teachings of non-compulsion or coercion to non-Muslims.
“Assimilation is fusing the different communities for the purpose of creating a same identity. Malaysia rejects this approach to national building because it is not compatible with the existing realities,” he said.
The Najib administration has been under fire for its inability and unwillingness to take actions against Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia and Malay rights group Perkasa.
Utusan Malaysia recently alleged that church leaders were in a plot with the DAP to turn Malaysia into a Christian state and install a Christian prime minister.
Christian leaders and DAP members have denied the reports which have sparked protests but the Home Ministry has only slapped Utusan Malaysia with a warning letter for publishing the unsubstantiated report.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was forced to meet with church leaders to clear the air but Umno vice president and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein later said that there was “some basis” to the reports.
Perkasa also threatened Christians nationwide that it would wage a crusade or holy war should the church proceed with the alleged agenda to usurp Islam but no action has been taken against the leaders.
Last month at Oxford University, Najib called on moderates of all religions to come together and said that it was not enough to go after individuals or organisations to address global violence as a lasting solution could only be achieved by seeking out root causes
