PETALING JAYA, 3 Nov: The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, reminded Muslims in this country to leave the pressure of siege mentality by getting rid of the attitude of being ‘highly sensitive’ inside.
He said that the attitude of Muslims who are too obsessed with the issue of religion has no place, making the few of them being so caught up and giving the picture that Muslims live in fear.
“Siege mentality is shackling and becomes a problem for us. Muslims today are too obsessed by giving attention to issues such as the Malay language Bibles, touching dogs, churches and temples.
“Unfortunately, leaders who think themselves as ulamas only issue their stand and views on issues such as this.
“Meanwhile, on the other hand, the issue of leakage of public money wasted, government administration that is not transparent and such matters are fatwa,” he said.
Anwar said this when speaking at the Muslim Democrats World Conference Dinner at the One World Hotel in Bandar Utama yesterday.
Elaborating, Anwar stressed the importance of discourse in promoting the desire to see justice, democracy and freedom in this country.
Also present was the PKR President, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail; the Chief Minister of Selangor, Mohamed Azmin Ali; the Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research (IKD), Khalid Jaafar and the Saskawa Peace Foundation Chairman, Jiro Hanyu.
The Muslim Democrats World Conference which is being held for two days from 3 to 4 November will feature a number of Muslim leaders and scholars.
The forum is organised by the Institute for Policy Research (IKD) in collaboration with the Saskawa Peace Foundation (SPF), the Indonesia Habibie Centre and the Turkey Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) which is expected to become a platform for Muslim leaders, intellectuals and professionals to voice progressive views on matters concerning freedom, democracy and justice.
NS