Malaysia shares concept of peaceful coexistence with other countries - Saifuddin

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is ready to share the concept of living together in a culture of peace or peaceful coexistence, which is highlighted through the Foreign Policy Framework, to be emulated by other countries, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said Malaysia has a relatively good record in terms of living with various races and religions in a peaceful atmosphere that could be offered to other countries.

He added it was among the things discussed during his recent visits to Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and the three Nordic countries showed interest as they had already started accepting a number of immigrants from other countries which are mostly Muslim.

"So we offer a formula that we have successfully implemented in Malaysia, (which is) how do we make peace with the multi-religious community.

"There are some dialogues that I have implemented there and maybe later there will be follow-up action...maybe between local academics and their academics to exchange ideas on how we can implement living together in a culture of peace," he told reporters after presenting the keynote address at the 50th anniversary celebration of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Malaysia, here, today.

Saifuddin said this when asked about the role that Malaysia can play in addressing the issue of Islamophobia following statements insulting Prophet Muhammad SAW by two Indian politicians recently.

The Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra) had earlier issued a statement strongly condemning the act, and the ministry had summoned the Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia on Tuesday.

Saifuddin said Malaysia welcomed the decision by India's ruling party to suspend the two Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party officials involved following their provocative statements.

"Our concern is that this has always happened lately and we ask the Indian government to work to stop this from happening again," he said.

Malaysia is one of the countries that condemned the actions of the party members involved who issued the insulting comments that sparked the anger of many Muslim countries.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Maldives, Bahrain and Turkiye were among the countries that also condemned the statement.

-- BERNAMA