The international interfaith relationship between Muslims and Christians broke into new ground yesterday by the speech of the Malaysian Prime Minister on the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order (F&O) plenary commission meeting which is now underway in Kuala Lumpur.

As a Muslim himself and the Governor of an Islamic state, it was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi’s first time at a Christian gathering. Nevertheless, approaching with a sincere heart, he introduced himself to over a hundred church representatives from all over the world as “a Muslim who wants to initiate a dialogue with his Christian friends”.

Abdullah spoke about his concerns with world religious conflicts, which have become very evident recently. He expressed his worry that the trust and goodwill between Islam and Christianity is diminishing. It is evolving wrongly into this situation because “dangerous but dominant views (are that) this is a battle between good and evil”.

Abdullah called for a concerted effort to initiate inter-faith dialogue. He stated, a “meaningful dialogue”, based on “respect for each other’s freedom of worship”, should “set aside our religious differences” and address “the issues that affect all of us, whatever our faith: injustices in the global financial and trading system, the threat to the environment, poverty and disease.”

Abdullah clarified the misconceptions of terrorism among Muslims and Christians. He admitted that “Muslims are responsible for a number of the terrorist acts committed today” although he stressed that “they are in a minority” and are “misguided”.

As an Islam scholar, Abdullah concluded his speech by quoting the same teaching in the Koran and the Bible. He stressed that “there are solutions” to the religious conflicts for “there are common values to our faiths: peace, friendship, cooperation”. Through these “shared values”, Christians and Muslims should address the world's problems.

It was reported by some local newspapers when Abdullah started his thoughtful speech, that he had shed tears. He confessed that his mind had turned to all the suffering in the world.

"As prime minister of Malaysia, I am not a leader of Muslims but a Muslim leader of all Malaysians. Therefore I have a responsibility not just to my fellow Muslims, but also to Malaysians who profess other religions as well,” Abdullah said.

Islam is the official religion in Malaysia. 58 percent of the 23.8 million inhabitants are Muslims and the rest of the population with big ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, follow other faiths - 22 percent Buddhists, 9 percent Christians, and 5 percent Hindus. Christianity among Chinese-Malaysian has flourished in recent years through the development of Chinese speaking churches.

Dana Dillon, a Southeast Asian analyst at the Heritage Foundation commented that Malaysia is a progressive and moderate Muslim country. In addition, the Prime Minister has taken quite an active role in harmonising the relationship between different religions.

Last year, Abdullah took the leadership of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference and has tried to galvanise a group to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On 19 July 2004, he was invited to Washington, U.S. for a meeting with President George Bush on which Bush emphasised that the war on terrorism is not against Islam.

It is evident that Malaysia can be a very promising country in progressing the Christian-Muslim relationship. Abdullah commented that the WCC gathering “in a Muslim country” gave him “great hope that, together, we can fight the perception that religions are at war, and that civilizations are colliding”.

Responding to Prime Minister Abdullah, the Council of Churches of Malaysia President, Bishop Tan Sri Datuk Dr Lim Cheng Ean, emphasised the need “to educate our people so that different faiths are able to appreciate each other and learn to live in peace together”.

The Moderator of the plenary commission on Faith and Order, Rev. Dr David Yemba, complimented the “rich cultural diversity” and “harmonious life of its people” in Malaysia. He presented the Prime Minister with an Arabic translation of the Bible.