No ban on debates between religious scholars

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will not prevent any religious debate programme as long as it is conducted within the law and regulations.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki told the Dewan Negara yesterday that any debate on differences of religious opinions should be held with the aim of discovering the truth.

"(But) we don't want it to play up on emotions and cause friction among Muslims," he said when replying to a supplementary question on whether the trend of holding debates between religious figures was healthy.

Asyraf Wajdi said among the measures taken by the government to strengthen unity in the Muslim community was through the establishment of the Institute of Wasatiyyah Malaysia and introduction of the concept of wasatiyyah, which means moderate, centrist and balanced, as a catalyst to the 1Malaysia concept.

He said the government had also boosted the role of the Islamic Consultative Body, which was set up in 1982 as a think tank and adviser to the government in naional development, especially with regard to Islamis matters.

"In the effort to enhance Islamic understanding and practices towards forging solidarity and unity among Muslims, the government has fine-tuned the system of managing religious policies, fatwa (edicts), guidelines and sources of reference," he added. - Bernama