Malaysian Official Wary On Moves Toward Inter-Religious Understanding

In Malaysia today, according to a report by Bernama, Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, spoke to reporters after opening the 4th Islamic Religious Enforcement Officers and Syariah Prosecutors' Conference and launching the Code of Ethics for Religious Enforcement Officers. He said that, at the urging of the Cabinet, he has asked various Islamic officials to meet with the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry to create new guidelines for better religious understanding. However, he believes that involvement of politicians in religious dialogue creates more problems. He urged that any inter-religious discussions or dialogues be held in private, saying: "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." Zahid also told reporters that so far 1,242 religious enforcement officer positions have been created-- one for every 23,000 Malaysians.