By Reme Ahmad, Malaysia Bureau Chief
KUALA LUMPUR - MUSLIMS must have zero tolerance for extremist voices and promote Islam's modern face instead, said Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
The biggest grouping of Muslim countries which Malaysia chairs - the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) - must refocus its energies on economic development rather than getting bogged down with politics, he said in an interview with the BBC World programme.
'We have...to prove that Islam is not against modernity and to prove that Islam is still relevant today,' he told show presenter Zeinab Badawi.
Asked if Muslim leaders should voice criticisms against militants more loudly, he said: 'I've been saying zero tolerance for terrorism. Islam doesn't compromise with terrorism. I've been saying it all the time.'
The voice of the Malaysian premier carries weight in the Islamic world as the current chairman of the 57-nation OIC.
He wants to push more economic programmes for the OIC, which he had said included some of the poorest nations in the world.
'What we are doing is giving the Organisation of the Islamic Conference an economic face. OIC has been dealing with politics too much. That's my belief.
'But we must do something that will help the poor. Do something that will help reduce illegal trade,' Datuk Seri Abdullah said.
At a separate event during his visit to London, the Prime Minister warned that Muslim countries should tackle intolerant Islam in their own societies by fighting poverty and ignorance.
'To me, this is jihad (holy war). And not the other kind we're talking about,' he was quoted by AFP as saying after making a speech at the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
He said the global fight against terrorism will be more successful if the world community does more to resolve the Palestinian problem and stabilise Iraq.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the 'single most powerful factor' dividing Islam and the West, with the US-led conflict in Iraq a close second, he said.
In the BBC interview, he said the Americans must leave Iraq to reduce anger among Muslims.
'I've always been saying that the American government must leave. Muslims must settle their own problems. The OIC can play a role in that,' he said.
The premier was on a three-day working visit to London this week before heading yesterday to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
