Malaysia: USIM Will Play Active Role In King Salman Centre Establishment

NILAI (Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia), March 23 (Bernama) -- The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) will play an active role in the establishment of the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP). USIM vice-chancellor, Professor Dr Musa Ahmad said following KSCIP's announcement last month, USIM had taken proactive measures by setting up a special team at the USIM level. He heads the team which comprises his deputy and academicians and staff from various faculties. In a statement here Wednesday, he said at the Malaysian Government level, USIM was directly involved in the KSCIP special committee, chaired by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki. Others in the committee are representatives from the Malaysian Defence Ministry and the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS). "Through this special committee platform, USIM has been involved in a series of meetings with Defence Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and Asyraf Wajdi in Parliament. "In addition, a series of discussions with MiDAS was also held at both the defence ministry and USIM, to look into several aspects of KSCIP, namely operations, contents, infrastructure as well as administration," said Musa. He said for USIM, the contributions would be focused on harnessing the academic expertise on Islamic studies, international law, counseling and securities across various faculties. He added that USIM - known for its concepts of integrating Naqli (revealed knowledge) and Aqli (rational knowledge) - would apply them in the area of expertise offered to KSCIP to ensure more relevant and significant results. "This is important to combat threats on universal peace from a propaganda of violence and ideologies fuelled by extremist and terrorist groups globally." Musa said the defence ministry had said that USIM would be invited to participate in the upcoming meeting between the ministry's representatives and those from Saudi Arabia on April 10 to further discuss the KSCIP establishment. In a joint statement issued after the four-day visit of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud to Malaysia last month, USIM was given responsiblity to work with the defence ministries of both countries and the Muslim World League to establish KSCIP. -- BERNAMA