MALAYSIA CONDEMNS U.S. CHURCH`S PLAN TO BURN QURAN

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia condemned the plan by a church in
the United States to burn the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept 11 attack,
with Foreign Minister Anifah Aman describing the act "horrendous".

"Malaysia condemns the act," he told a news conference, "I'm sure the United
States knows the stand of Muslims around the world on this."

Anifah was commenting on the plan by a church in Florida, US, to burn the
Quran, an act which receive worldwide condemnation.

Meanwhile, Anifah said Malaysia would not recall its ambassador in Jakarta
because doing so would only aggravate the situation and damage the harmonious
relations between both countries.

Doing so would not be beneficial to both countries, he said when asked to
comment on the call by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

"Recalling an ambassador is a last step prior to severing ties between
countries," Anifah said, "I don't know if Khairy knows about the implication of
doing this."



Khairy had urged Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to recall
ambassador Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin Syed Hassan and embassy staff in Jakarta if
Indonesia could not guarantee the safety of the Malaysian Embassy.

Khairy also said that Anifah's message to Indonesian foreign minister Dr
Marty Natalegawa, at their meeting on Monday, was not strong enough.

Anifah said Malaysia should not "get itself trapped in issues like this" and
said that all parties should understand that the "Ganyang Malaysia" (Crush
Malaysia) movement by the fringe nationalist group, Bendera, was not a
reflection of the stand of the Indonesian people.

He also said that there had been no demonstrations by Bendera in front of
the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta since Tuesday.

"This is a very good development and we hope that this will prevail," he
said.

-- BERNAMA