OIC meeting

OIC meeting

No doubt, the 16 national delegations to the Kuala Lumpur meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference's Commission of Eminent Persons already know full well that moderation is enlightened. Nevertheless, enshrining the phrase "Enlightened Moderation" as the guiding theme of the three-day conference is welcome indeed.

What a succinct way to express the precise mindset that is key to achieving not just the OIC's founding objective of the unity, progress and prosperity of the ummah worldwide, but its recently refurbished agenda of engagement, both among Muslim nations and between them and the wider world.

The OIC has a lofty calling. A clear-sighted and level-headed attention to the minutiae of progressive multilateralism may be a sound basis from which to reach for its goals, but there's no denying the need to keep the end in view. "Enlightened moderation" lights the way well. -- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur