KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia will not tolerate the act of burning any religious book or text including the Quran, Bible, and even the Hindu scriptures such as the Veda, as Malaysians value humanity and respect the rights of each individual, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Condemning in the strongest terms the act of extremist Danish-Swedish far-right politician, Rasmus Paludan, in burning a copy of the Quran in Sweden, Anwar said there is so much misunderstanding and prejudices against religions in the world, including Islam.
“What do you want to prove? That you are secular, or that you are against Islam or against religions, when what you actually portray is the degradation of man and values?” he said when launching the Knowledge, Tradition and Civilisation: Essays In Honour of Prof Osman Bakar’s book at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation, International Islamic University Malaysia here today.
Anwar said he had asked Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir to call the Swedish ambassador and conveyed Malaysia’s feeling of disgust towards Swedish tolerance to the burning of the Quran in the country.
Paludan, leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, was permitted to burn the Quran last Saturday outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, causing the Muslim world to erupt in anger due to the incident. – Bernama, January 26, 2023
