Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad made an impassioned plea for an end to inter-religious strife when he opened the WEF 11th General Assembly. He said that once started, religious disputes often lead to violence over several generations.
The Prime Minister's speech was itself an example of how people of different religions can respect each other. He said: "Intolerance breeds injustice. Injustice invariously leads to rebellion and retaliation, and these will lead to escalation on the part of both, (thus) making reconciliation almost impossible.
“It would appear that during times of stress, despair and frustration, people become increasingly irrational, and they do things which they never think they are capable of. And so we see hideous brutality perpetrated by the gentlest people.
He added that once begun, religious strife had a tendency to become permanent feuds. Today we see such intractable inter-religious wars in Northern Ireland, between Jews and Muslims and Christians in Palestine, Hindus and Muslims in South Asia and in many other places.
Today, many are still fighting each other out of revenge for the deaths of their ancestors, he said.
“We are now at the beginning of a new century. It is a good time to resolve to break away from the tragedies of the past and to build on the realities of the present,” Dr Mahathir urged.
He also called for leaders of different religious groups to begin a process of dialogue with each other in the cause of peace. He said: "In multi-racial, multi-cultural Malaysia it is also worthwhile for religious leaders to re-visit their roles as we move into a new era in the development of society. The greatest contribution they can make is in promoting religious tolerance among their followers.”
Dr Mahathir also called on practitioners of religions to be sensitive to each other. “It is true that it is the nature of some religious denominations that propagation of their faith is obligatory. But we should be careful that we don’t propagate religions at the cost of conflicts and violence. Such conflicts can only bring about an environment where religions cannot thrive,” he said.
He believed religion was the antidote to the current culture of greed that was tending to destroy humanity. He believed that by returning to the guiding principles of religion, poverty would be eliminated.
“The world, through a combination of God-given resources and human ingenuity in terms of technology has never been so rich as it is now. There really is no need for anyone to take everything for himself in order to be rich. There is enough to share.
“Poverty in this day and age is indefensible and a disgrace for the level of civilisation that humans have achieved. No one should be poor if those of us who are not religious are not so greedy,” he said.
Dr Mahathir recommended that consistent effort be made on the young generation to help protect and preserve religious tolerance. “Young children are usually free of biases and prejudices. They provide the best example of tolerance and peaceful co-existence,” he said, adding that young people must be taught to respect one another.
“Then living together as a community, even while professing different faiths, would not be an impossible task at all.” |
