[IslamCity] Re:Malaysia Seeks Dramatic OIC Reform (interview)(http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-06/28/article04.shtml)

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 01:01:16 -0700

Muslim rulers want fame and not real reforms. Example: Malaysia needs cheap labour from its neighbours to do harvesting and other menial jobs. But when the workers come from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Burma, etc. they are caught caned and paid very low, low wages. This is unislam and injustice. Even UN condemned the actions of Malaysian government of ill treating the foreign workers.

sahannan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Malaysia Seeks Dramatic OIC Reform (interview)

By Abdulhadi Ahmed, IOL Staff

DOHA, June 28, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - Malaysia, the current chair of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), is a staunch support of reforming the pan-Muslim body.

It believes that the OIC urgently needs dramatic changes, including a new charter, name and decision-making mechanism, to face the daunting challenges ahead.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar maintains that at the age of globalization and economic blocs, the OIC can not remain a political umbrella and needs to activate economic cooperation and integration among member states.

Following is a transcript of an interview IslamOnline.net had with the top diplomat on the sidelines of the two-day summit of the G77 and China, hosted by Doha on June 18-19.

What are the problems hindering the OIC?

The real problem with the OIC is that we present only an organization of conference countries. We are not an organization as such. We are a loose movement and we don’t have enough money, we don’t have the support in order to for us to be like any other regional organizations or multilateral organizations. We are not able to meet the challenges of today, so we must have a research group within the OIC, we must  have a very a strong secretariat that would be able to improve the image of Islamic countries.

What are the main ideas for reforming the OIC?

When the OIC was born it was a result of the burning of Al-Aqsa mosque. Since then we have expanded our activities into various areas, so the OIC definitely has to move with facts, has to be updated. We are moving into a world of globalization, we are moving into a world that is full of liberalization of market, of economy, and the OIC can’t remain just purely a political body. There are a lot of advantages by us working together for our economic wellbeing and benefits. So I think in this direction, the OIC as a secretariat has to be revitalized, has to be restructured in order to meet the new challenges of the 21st century. And the OIC as an organization has to be updated, which means we have to look at our charter, not only the issue of Palestine that is important, the issue of economic cooperation, the issue of globalization, the issue of relationship with other regional organizations, with other countries, what is the position of a Muslim minority in non-Muslim country, how do we project the image of Islam as being a religion of peace, so all these are new dictates and new demands that we work very closely interfacing with the world. The present world look at Islam and Muslim equal to terrorism so we must change this mindset of the west, we must create a dialogue, we must create that it is not Islam that is wrong, the extremism has nothing to do with the religion, so I think we need to change the way we move. like Malaysia, we talk about a new approach of Islam Hadari, manhaj Hadari, the process of creating a Muslim who believes in Iman and taqwa but at the same time he is progressing, he is modern, rely on knowledge, he is fair to the minority, he is fair to women, he wants to create progress, he seeks knowledge, this is what Hadari is, civlizational approach of Islam, of this humanistic civilizational approach of Islam, so people understand that Islam that one time was the bastion of civilization can now come back to become one, not to be in conflict with others, but to be part of the mainstream of international relations and of international politics, at present we are much marginalized.

So the OIC needs new name and charter?

I think it is not only the name change, the name we want to do it because we think in the name also there would be a change in the mindset but possible Muslim countries must make mohasaba within themselves. So in order for you to change you must look at yourself so I we look at ourselves critically , then we only will be able to change.

What about the charter, are you talking about re-writing the charter?

I think the charter needs to be updated in order for the OIC to be developed, the present charter is not satisfactory, there are quite number of elements that are not in the charter that make things unclear and very difficult for us to move, in order to change the organization of Islamic countries since set as a conference body, the present discord is the OIC. We want to see, not conference countries, but of Islamic states, so people can set the terms, they can set the parameters of membership. OK.

Will there be new conditions for OIC membership?

No, I think sometimes there should be new conditions. People who want to be members must be serious, they must contribute to the wellbeing of the OIC. It is better to have quality than just to have quantity.

You think that there will be new conditions?

This is what we are thinking we asked other countries to look at it because we can not impose our view on  other countries.

We have heard that Malaysia wants Islam Hadari to be part of the reform. In what way can this be?

It is not a theory, it is an approach to work the fulfillment of deen (Religion), it is not a new Madhab, it is not a new school, it is just an approach to improve and creating a better image of Islam that is modernistic and progressing and at the same time, it is still strong on morality, on faith, on knowledge, on protection of women, giving justice, treating everybody equally, so it is in essence trying to bring about change of attitude among Muslims and at the same time for non-Muslims to look at Islam that this religion is not against development, not against modernity, not against progress, not against knowledge, so I think this what we are trying to do. And like in Malaysia, Islam hadari is seen as one of the programs in order to make people see Islam as a religion of enlightenment, a religion of peace, a religion of development, that is what we think we want to do.

Up till now, how do you see the member states responding to the reforms?

Generally, they all agree to the reform, but the question is of the mode of reform that we have not discussed in great details but everyone says yes there is an equal need for reform, what is the reform and how should we go far in reforming that is no one.

How will the reform process proceed?

I think we have discussed this in Kuala Lumpur. We discussed the conclusion in Kuala Lumpur and again in Islamabad, and at the end we hope we discuss it at the foreign ministers’ in Sanaa.

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