KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 is not meant to discriminate or isolate any country, but is aimed at coming up with proposals and solutions acceptable to the Muslim world, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“We are not discriminating or isolating anyone. We are attempting to start small and see if these ideas, proposals and solutions are acceptable and prove workable.
“Then we hope to take them up to the larger platform for consideration, ” the Prime Minister said in his welcoming address at the summit yesterday.
Also present were Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and his wife Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah.
The foreign Muslim leaders present were Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Dr Mahathir, who is the summit’s chairman, said the objective was not to discuss religion but the state of affairs in the Muslim world, which he described as “in a state of crisis”.
“Everywhere we see Muslim countries being destroyed, their citizens forced to flee their countries, forced to seek refuge in non-Muslim countries.
“Many thousands die during their fight and many more were refused asylum. On the other hand, we see Muslims perpetrating violent acts, killing innocent victims… men, women, children, the sick and incapacitated.
“They have done this because their own countries are unable to provide security for them or do anything to retake the land that has been seized by others. Frustrated and angry, they react violently without in any way achieving their objectives, ” said Dr Mahathir.
The Prime Minister said in seeking revenge, all they succeeded in doing was to bring into disrepute their own religion of Islam.
“They have created fear by their actions. And now this Islamophobia, this unjustified fear of Islam, has denigrated our religion in the eyes of the world, ” he added.
Dr Mahathir explained that the summit needed to discuss how the fear involving Islamophobia was generated and whether it was true or mere propaganda of its detractors, or a combination of both.
“It is for these reasons that the summit meeting is organised. At the very least, through our discussion we may find what went wrong.
“We may even find solutions, if not to end these catastrophes at least to awaken the Islamic world, the ummah, of the need to recognise the problems and their causes.”
He said the Muslim world also had to deal with fratricidal wars, civil wars, failed governments and many other catastrophes without any serious effort being made to end or reduce them, or to rehabilitate the religion.
“We have seen other countries devastated by the Second World War not only recovering quickly but also growing strongly to become developed. But a few Muslim countries seem unable even to be governed well, much less to be developed and prosper.
“Is it our religion that is in the way? Is it that Islam is against worldly success and becoming a developed country? Or is it the Muslim themselves who prevent their countries from being governed well, from being developed?” he asked. -The Star