PUTRAJAYA, Sept 9 — Malaysia condemned the plan by a church in the United States to burn the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept 11 attack, with Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman describing the act “horrendous”.

“Malaysia condemns the act,” he told a news conference, “I’m sure the United States knows the stand of Muslims around the world on this.”

Anifah was commenting on the plan by a church in Florida, US, to burn the Quran, an act which receive worldwide condemnation.

Meanwhile, Anifah said Malaysia would not recall its ambassador in Jakarta because doing so would only aggravate the situation and damage the harmonious relations between both countries.

Doing so would not be beneficial to both countries, he said when asked to comment on the call by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

“Recalling an ambassador is a last step prior to severing ties between countries,” Anifah said, “I don’t know if Khairy knows about the implication of doing this.”

Khairy had urged Wisma Putra to recall ambassador Datuk Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin Syed Hassan and embassy staff in Jakarta if Indonesia could not guarantee the safety of the Malaysian Embassy.

Khairy also said that Anifah’s message to Indonesian foreign minister Dr Marty Natalegawa, at their meeting on Monday, was not strong enough.

Anifah said Malaysia should not “get itself trapped in issues like this” and said that all parties should understand that the “Ganyang Malaysia” (Crush Malaysia) movement by the fringe nationalist group, Bendera, was not a reflection of the stand of the Indonesian people.

He also said that there had been no demonstrations by Bendera in front of the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta since Tuesday.

“This is a very good development and we hope that this will prevail,” he said. — Bernama