DISCUSSIONS ON RELIGIOUS ISSUES SHOULD BE BEHIND CLOSED-DOORS

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), Dec 22 (Bernama) -- Any discussion on religious
issues should not be done openly to preserve racial harmony in Malaysia, said
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Instead, he said, such discussions or dialogues needed to be held
behind
closed-doors so that those involved would be able to better understand the
religious similarities and differences.

"The more such discussions are held, the further apart we will be.
Therefore, our contention is that there should be less such discussions but more
racial integration activities, such as holding functions together to honour
religious leaders which can improve relations between people of different
religions," he added.

Ahmad Zahid said he had already asked senior officials of the Islamic
Development Department Malaysia (Jakim), Institute of Islamic Understanding
Malaysia (Ikim) and Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia (Yadim) to meet officials
from the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry to draw up new guidelines
for better religious understanding, and not religious integration.

He was speaking to reporters after opening the 4th Islamic Religious
Enforcement Officers and Syariah Prosecutors' Conference and launching the Code
of Ethics for Religious Enforcement Officers, here, Monday.


The Cabinet had recently suggested that the ministry and Jakim's officials
discuss drawing up a sound mechanism aimed at ensuring that any arising
religious issue would be explained properly to the public so as to preserve
racial harmony and unity in the country.

Ahmad Zahid also said that it was best for religious issues or
problems be
resolved by the respective religious leaders and not by politicians who would
use religion for their political aim.

"We have seen the examples in other countries where the more dialogues
there
are between religious and non-religious leaders, the more problems have arisen.
The religious conflicts are not caused by the religious leaders but the
political leaders."

On the code of ethics for Islamic religious enforcement officers, he said
it covered uniformity of enforcement laws, posts and identity to boost their
image and effectiveness so as to gain more respect from the public.

He said todate, 1,242 enforcement officer posts had been created nationwide
from only about 300 previously, but still the ratio was only one enforcement
officer for every 23,000 people.


On the implementation of Hudud law in the country as proposed by PAS, Ahmad
Zahid said it would first require the Federal Constitution to be
amended.

"PAS can implement Hudud law if it rules the country. If that is their aim,
it is good and I hope they can achieve this, but the political reality is
different," he said when asked to comment on PAS vice-president Datuk Husam
Musa's assurance last Saturday that Hudud law would be implemented if People's
Pact (Pakatan Rakyat), the opposition pact, could rule the country in
future.

But the idea has already drawn objection from DAP, one of PAS' partners in
the opposition pact, as this was not included in Pakatan Rakyat's manifesto in
the last general election.

-- BERNAMA