KUANTAN: The act of confining the use of the word terrorism to a particular religion, mainly Islam, needs to stop, says Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Fuziah Salleh (pix).
She claimed that the Western media had the unjust practice of confining the matter solely to Muslims, and said it is an unfair act that leads to a negative perception surrounding Islam.
“Although we know the Western media likes to create a negative perception of Islam, the time has come for us to review and give a more accurate definition of any party or individual who commits violence.
“There is no religion which gives its followers the right to commit acts which can spark chaos, what more violence against others ... actually these terrorists do not belong to any religion,
“What happened in Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday symbolised the action of a sick man and doesn’t represent any religion ... the act of targeting a place of worship (for attack) is an action that cannot be accepted,” she told a press conference after launching the Kuantan Methodist Girls’ High School Alumni Association’s annual general meeting here today.
Fuziah, who is also the Kuantan MP, said such incidents could be avoided if the authorities identified potential threats and carried out early prevention, apart from taking action or imposing severe punishment against individuals and groups prone to violence.
“Although we think there is a big possibility that the incident there (Christchurch, New Zealand) will not occur in Malaysia, nevertheless we cannot take lightly threats as well as extremist or radical teachings trying to infiltrate our country.
“There are certain parties trying to turn our country’s different races and religions into an issue ... this must stop because we fear that it might trigger feelings of uneasiness and ultimately cause misunderstanding among the people of various races and religions in this country,” she said. — Bernama
