PM Najib: We have to overcome challenges to co-exist peacefully

Eveyone must accept the reality that there are differences in the various religions and focus on what they have in common, says prime minister

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Razak has called on religious leaders and their followers to work hand-in-hand to build mutual trust, respect, understanding and cooperation for a peaceful coexistence.

Najib noted that they were important for the peace and security everyone was seeking.

“We must make a firm commitment to establish a culture of tolerance and harmony to better promote the well-being of humankind, putting aside what might divide us as communities.”

Najib said this when opening the international seminar on “Religion and Peaceful Co-Existence: Accepting Differences and Upholding Values” organised by the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM), here, today.

The prime minister told his audience that the path towards a peaceful co-existence was no walk in the park.

“To establish a peaceful co-existence in a country like Malaysia is indeed a challenge, but it’s something that we have always strived to do and will continue to do with wisdom, kindness and justice,” Najib said.

He said one way to do it in Malaysia and beyond was to accept the reality that there were differences in the various religions – and come to a common realisation “that we can actually agree to disagree”.

The prime minister drove home the point that instead of emphasising points of contention among religions, the focus should be on what they had in common.

“And there is, in fact, much in common in the values promoted by many religions. We should embrace these in the interest of all rather than quibble and magnify the differences to serve political or strategic agendas,” he said.

Najib reckoned that these shared values would lead to the creation of peaceful, harmonious and tolerant societies that would benefit everyone.

He said while building peace and maintaining harmony between different religions was a noble and important task, the necessity of cohesion within the respective religions should not be sidelined.

He spoke about the need to adopt the approach of moderation or “wasatiyyah” which carried the message of doing good, of steadfastness and of justice, as well as rejecting all forms of evil.

“By adopting wasatiyyah, I believe that religion can become the bridge-builder that we need in the world today,” he said.

Elaborating, Najib said the wasatiyyah approach was important because it meant “balanced” and “the best”.

“Without wasatiyyah, society would easily fall into extremism that would result in radicalism like the IS or extremism that would threaten the religion, such as liberalism extremists,” Najib said.

The two-day seminar, which ends tomorrow, is aimed at having a better understanding of the role of religions in promoting peaceful coexistence in the current multiracial and multireligious societies.

– BERNAMA