PM Anwar Ibrahim: Malaysia Will Not Tolerate Acts Of Burning Any Holy Scriptures

JAKARTA - Prime Minister (PM) Anwar Ibrahim emphasized that Malaysia will never tolerate any signs of hatred, including the burning of holy books and any religious books.

This assertion was conveyed by Anwar while speaking at a book launch event entitled "Knowledge, Tradition, and Civilization: Essays in Honor of Prof Osman Bakar" at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, in response to the burning of copies of the Koran that recently occurred in Sweden.

“What do you want to prove? That you are secular? You are against Islam? or are you against religion?” said Anwar as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, January 26.

According to Anwar, what he is trying to show is actually a degradation of humanity and values.

“We in Malaysia will not tolerate, not only the burning of the Koran, the burning of the Bible, Hindu religious texts, because we value humanity. We respect everyone's right to advance their own ideas and values," said Anwar.

Quoted from the Turkish news agency Anadolu, Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Stram Kurs (extremist) party burned a copy of the Koran with the permission of the government and police protection.

The Swedish government allows the burning of copies of the Koran because it sees it as part of freedom of expression and opinion.

The burning occurred during demonstrations against Turkey's demand last week for Sweden to take firm steps against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), which Turkey considers a terror group.

Sweden and Finland officially applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) last year.

However, Turkey objected and accused the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terror groups, including the PKK and the Fethullah terrorist organization (FETO).