Closer Europe-Islamic world relations urged
Closer Europe-Islamic world relations urged
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad called yesterday for closer cooperation and understanding between Europe and the Moslem world to improve relations.
"This is a subject of great importance to Islam and the Moslems, for the European perception of Islam and its followers will always have repercussions in the Moslem world," he said at a Malaysia-European Union joint seminar on Islam.
The 72-year-old leader said Europe's perception of the Islamic world has not changed much since the religion first became known to them.
"For a very long time, they actually refused to believe that Islam was a monotheistic religion like Christianity. They called them 'Muhammadans' and regard the Moslems as the worshipers of Muhammad along with two other Greek gods," he said.
Moslems, on the other hand, have not made any headway in Europe, he said, adding that if at all, their relations with the Europeans were worse than before.
"After the end of the Cold War, confrontation between Europe and the rest of the world seemed to be confined to Moslems and Moslem countries."
Mahathir said if the Europeans could learn to accept the Jews and Judaism, it was also possible for them to tolerate Islam and Moslems.
"Do we need a holocaust to trigger this change? Isn't the massacre of 200,000 Bosnian Moslems not enough?" he asked.
"But the Moslems have to look at themselves also, their contribution to the European distrust and dislike of Islam and Moslems. They are not blameless."
Mahathir said there was a need for both the Europeans and the Moslems to improve their perceptions of each other in order to improve their relations.
Michel Caillouet, Bangkok-based ambassador and head of the EU delegation said the union was moving to close gaps with the Moslem world.
"The feelings are changing. In the European Union, there are 15 countries with a 11 million Moslem population ... we have to promote dialogues and mutual understanding," he told AFP.