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> ROMAIPS AP CR DV IP > MALAYSIA: 'Muslims Angry at War on Terror, not Cartoons' > Baradan Kuppusamy > > Feb 12 , KUALA LUMPUR (IPS) - Delegates at an international conference > here entitled 'Who Speaks for Islam? Who speaks for the West', were > inclined to blame the ferocity of reactions against the cartoon > controversy, which gripped the world this past week, on the 'war on > terror' in Iraq and Afghanistan. > > The cartoons, depicting Prophet Mohammad as a terrorist and published in a > Danish newspaper, dominated the two-day conference which ended Saturday. > The timing of the meet was a matter of coincidence. > > Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, current chairman of the > Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), urged Muslims and the western > world to join hands against fringe elements in both societies that, he > said, are ''hell bent on keeping us apart''. He called for bridges to be > built so that ''the West will speak for Islam and Muslims speak for the > West''. > > Badawi, however, blamed the ''hegemony of the centres of power in the > West'' for the widening chasm between Islam and the West. > ''They (Muslims) see the subjugation of Palestine as an indirect > concretisation of this hegemony. They see hegemony manifested directly in > the attack upon Afghanistan and in the occupation of Iraq.'' > > At the same time, said Badawi, the West wrongly equated Islam with > violence. ''They think Osama bin Laden speaks for the religion and its > followers. Islam and Muslims are linked to all that is negative and > backward,'' he said, adding that the U.S.-led 'war-on- terror' has widened > the chasm. > > Badawi told delegates from 100-odd countries that ''those who deliberately > kill non-combatants and the innocent; those who oppress and exploit > others; those who are corrupt and greedy; those who are chauvinistic and > communal,'' cannot speak on behalf of Islam. > > ''We must acknowledge that in the West, principles such as freedom and > equality have found concrete expression in the rule of law, public > accountability, acceptance of political dissent and respect for popular > participation. However, for a lot of Muslims today, this is not the face > of the West that they see,'' he told an audience of academics and > policymakers. > > Anger against the cartoons has been muted in this multi-ethnic country > that officially practices 'Hadhari', a moderate form of Islam on the > appeal of which, Badawi enjoys a solid electoral mandate, controlling > nearly 90 percent of the 217 seats in parliament. > > Prominent among the foreign delegates was former Iranian president > Muhammad Khatami who, in comments to reporters, said that he hoped lessons > had been drawn from the caricature controversy. ''The Muslim world has > reacted to this issue and if this policy continues, we will be engaging in > continuous violence," he warned. > > While Malaysian newspapers were full of the rage that swept the Muslim > world over the week, none of the anger was reflected in the country's many > mosques. > > Badawi himself expressed sadness at the mischief the cartoons have caused > and went out of his way to say that that Malaysia would not boycott > Danish products unlike many other Middle Eastern countries. > > The only official sign of discomfort was when Danish ambassador Borge > Petersen was 'summoned' and told that Malaysia deplored publication of > such insensitive cartoons. > > Denmark has, in fact, requested Malaysia's help in restraining Muslim rage > at the European nation whose media first published the caricatures of > Prophet Muhammad but was quickly reprinted by media in other countries. > > Malaysian foreign minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said, on the > sidelines of the conference that he took a telephone call from his Danish > counterpart Per Stig Moller seeking Malaysian support in containing the > rage. > > Albar vowed that the fires raging around the world over the cartoons > ''would not find kindle wood here in Malaysia.'' > > Leading Malaysian Islamic thinker Chandra Muzaffar credits the quietness > in this country to a lack of fear and insecurity among Malay Muslims. > > ''Unlike the other Muslim countries caught in the eye of the storm, > Malaysia is free of the hegemonic consequences of big powers that are > experienced by Afghanistan and Iraq for example,'' said Muzaffar, > president of the International Movement for a Just World or JUST, an NGO > dedicated to inter-ethnic peace. > > ''Malaysia is relatively free of the negative consequences of hegemonic > trends,'' he told IPS. > > Muzaffar said social justice, religious harmony and reasonably good > governance in Malaysia are the key reasons why the sense of loss and deep > grievances, seen in other Muslim societies, is absent here. > > ''Muslims here don't feel dispossessed or have the same fear that Islam is > under threat as Muslims in other countries like Palestine or Afghanistan > and Iraq,'' he said. > > Muzaffar agreed with Badawi's view that the war on terror has aggravated > Muslim insecurity. ''Western media images and commentaries have reinforced > the erroneous equation of Islam with terror. This explains why some of the > offensive cartoons of the Prophet published in the Jyllands-Posten made > that link,'' he said. > > ''But equating Islam and Muslims with violence and terror is not new. It > has been going on for a long time,'' Muzaffar said. > > ''What Muslims have been witnessing in recent years is the stark > consequences of global hegemony reflected in the slaughter of innocent > Muslims in Palestine and Iraq, the humiliation of occupation and > subjugation, the treachery of double standards and the machinations of > exclusion and marginalisation,'' he said. > > ''It explains to a great extent the explosion of violent fury in different > parts of the Muslim world over the abusive cartoons. It is anger that is > driven by more than their boundless love for Mohammad,'' he said. > > At the close of the conference, Malaysia's deputy prime minister Datuk > Seri Najib Tun Razak said the majority of mankind had allowed a few people > to voice biased opinions because ''we have allowed them to speak for us''. > > "The terrorist who straps a bomb to his chest and blows up a shopping > mall,'' does not speak for Islam any more than does a ''newspaper editor > who sees fit to ridicule a holy prophet who is venerated by more than one > billion people around the globe,'' said Razak. > > Najib dismissed talk of a 'clash of civilisations', saying this need not > happen if fundamental fault lines between the Muslim and the Western > worlds were adequately addressed. 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