KOTA KINABALU – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as a former prime minister, should be calling for calm instead of aggravating tensions with France with his response to President Emmanuel Macron’s comments on Islam, said Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.
The former foreign minister, in a statement, said Dr Mahathir should have instead sought solutions to ensure the continuation of peace, harmony and good diplomatic relations.
“Islam is a religion of peace that was hijacked by fanatics and made into an excuse for inexcusable violence around the world.
“It is far too easy for non-Muslims to focus on the small part of the extremist threat that certain extremists, who claim to be Muslim, pose to non-Muslims in the West, and demonise one of the world’s great religions, drifting into some form of Islamophobia, blaming a faith for patterns of violence that are driven by a tiny fraction of the world’s extremists or terrorists, and by many other factors like population, failed governance and weak economic development.
“It is also far too easy to focus on individual acts of terrorism and extremism, and ignore the global patterns in such violence.
“The recent attacks in Nice and Paris are yet another example of extremists using religion as an excuse to conduct violent acts.
“While I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and the people of France for these terrible attacks, it is indeed a grave concern that there is growing open hostility towards Muslims due to a lack of understanding of Islam and Muslims as a whole.”
The Parti Cinta Sabah president said it is important to eliminate Islamophobia and for terrorist acts to be identified as violence itself, and not a representation of Islam or any other religion.
“As stated by the government of Malaysia, freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental human right for as long as these rights are exercised with respect and responsibility, so as to not infringe on or violate the rights of others.
“In this context, to denigrate and tarnish Islam’s holy Prophet and associate Islam with terrorism are certainly beyond the scope of such rights. Such an act is provocative and disrespectful to Islam and more than two billion Muslims all over the world.”
On Thursday, Dr Mahathir sparked anger after he tweeted that Muslims have a right “to kill millions of French people”.
He has said the remark had been taken out of context and misrepresented.
The attacks in France follow the republication of caricatures of the Prophet. – The Vibes, November 1, 2020
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