KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib has expressed the strongest condemnation over the terror attacks that took place across the globe in recent days, calling them a “sickening” disregard for human life.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 27th Asean Summit today, Najib said the perpetrators of the deadly attacks did not represent any race, creed, or religion.
“I was going to begin by talking to you about the momentous steps we in Asean are about to embark upon.
“But the events of recent days and weeks have cast a shadow over us all; 170 dead after the attacks in Paris and Beirut, (and) 224 lives taken in the bombing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai desert.
“Just this week, an innocent Malaysian was beheaded in the southern Philippines. And yesterday (Friday), hostages taken and lives lost in Bamako, Mali,” Najib said during his officiating speech.
Najib said the individuals who carried out the violent acts should be confronted as terrorists, and that they should bear the full brunt of the law.
“Malaysia stands ready to provide any help and support that we can, and be assured that we stand with you against this new evil that blasphemes against the name of Islam,” he said.
Najib said while Malaysia stood vigilant against the several terror groups operating in the region, Asean leaders needed to find new solutions to counter the scourge of extremism.
“Local militants and groups, such as Abu Sayyaf, have sworn allegiance to the so-called Islamic State. It was they who cruelly murdered our countryman, Bernard Then, on Tuesday."
Najib, however, warned that military action alone could not stamp out extremism and violence.
“It is the ideology propagated by these extremists that is the cause of this sadistic violence; and in this time of tragedy, we must not lose sight of the fact that the ideology itself must be exposed as the lie that it is – and vanquished.
“For it is not Islamic. It cannot be,” he added.
Quoting the Quran, Najib said the act of murdering others and carrying out suicide attacks against innocent people were against the teachings of Islam.
“It states clearly in the Holy Quran that if anyone wrongly takes a life, ‘it shall be as if he had killed all mankind’.
“Suicide – under any circumstances, never mind suicide bombing that kills innocents – is likewise a terrible sin.
“In the Hadith, it is recorded that the Prophet Muhammad said that God forbids Paradise to anyone who takes their own life – let alone the lives of innocents,” he said, adding that extremists advocated a perverted version of Islam.
Najib said true Islamic principles promoted moderation as a way of life.
“Moderation, or wasatiyyah, is at the heart of Islam. It is a Quranic injunction that no Muslim can disobey.
“But moderation does not belong only to us. It has been the locomotive of the non-violent approach to solving conflict throughout history.”
Najib said pacifist leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr won the hearts and minds of their enemies by resolving conflicts through moderation and peaceful means.
“When Jesus, or Nabi Isa, as Muslims call one of our greatest prophets, said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’. He was praising those who took on the hardest of labours.
“There is nothing easy or wimpish about moderation,” he added.
Najib said moderation was a concept deeply embedded in Malaysian culture, which enabled the nation’s multiracial community to unite.
“Our unique mixture of faiths and ethnicities could have divided us; but instead our diversity has strengthened us.
“We pray that a more moderate and peaceful world will one day consign such outrages and murderous ideologies to the past.
“Let us begin that work today.”