M'SIA A "THOUGHT LEADER" ESPECIALLY IN DEVELOPING ISLAMIC FINANCE, SAYS CLINTON

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is seen to be a "thought leader"
especially in its creativity of developing Islamic finance to be a a major
influence, and thus is capable of thinking outside the box, said Hillary Rodham
Clinton here Tuesday.

The United States State Secretary said:"From my observation and my
discussions with Malaysian officials and citizens, Islamic finance has a very large
influence right here in Malaysia, that is a very creative approach."

As such, Malaysians had the opportunity to be creative, to think outside the box
and come out with ways at addressing problems that could bring the world's
attention to them, she added.

"And I look forward to cooperating more to take up common issues," she said in
responding to Media Prima Berhad (Media Prima) Executive Director, News and
Editorial Operations, Ahmad A. Talib question on how Malaysia as a thought
leader could go towards creating mutual understanding between the West and
Islamic countries.

Ahmad was one of the moderators in a "Conversation with the US Secretary of
State" at the Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (Istac) here
Tuesday.

The one-hour programme was also moderated by TV3 personality Norzie Pak Wan Chek
and attended by 500 university and college students, as well as representatives
from non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Clinton also said it was important for Muslims and Christians to learn more
about each other and understand each other better.

"I hope there is no conflict between Islam and the West," she said, adding that
the US and the Islamic World needed to a better job in reaching out to one
another by having more exchanges and understanding.

She said:" Religion has many different faces, even within one's faith. In
Christianity there are many different kinds of practising persons. In my
religion and any religion in the world, there are those who use religion for
other purposes.

"They use religion to came out with ideologies, they use religion for personal
power. I see this throughout history.

"So I think it is important to Islam and Christianity to make it very clear that
there exist problems within any religion, especially by those who use religion
for extremist purposes which give a bad appearance to that religion."

She added that "more changes, education and more understanding" was needed to
address these problems.
-- BERNAMA