Memorandum Kepada Denmark

We demand Denmark sincere and proper apology

MEMORANDUM TO THE DANISH PRIME MINISTER ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN
"And insult not those whom they (disbelievers) worship besides Allah, lest they insult Allah wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fairseeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them all that they used to do". Al QUran- Surah al-An'am - Verse 108.

We, the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) representing 15 million Muslims and the Malaysia public in general, srtongly condemn the most irresponsible and provocative depiction of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as caricatured in the Danish Daily, Jyllands Prosten and which has since been reproduced by like-minded provocateurs on the European continent as well as some other parts of the western world. This is a most disgusting and uncivilized act and the approval given by your government under lame excuse of 'freedom' of the press' makes it even more offensive'

Our anger, regret and condemnation is based on the fact that:

Your government and you personally endorsed the publication of the hate material under the guise of 'freedom'

The concern showed by you after growing protests amongst Muslims worldwide still stopped short of reprimading the paper for printing slander

As a result of the position taken by you and your government, vile act has spread to other countries to further taunt the Muslims

There is continued belligent attitude on your part to defend the publishing of the caricatures despite 'regretting' its consequences which is very odd indeed

The depiction of Muslims and Muslim figures as 'terrorists', which is a product of post September 11, 2001 propaganda, continues to infuriate Muslims even futher

Knowing very well that the understanding of Islam amongst many sections of Danish society is rudimentary, you persist to allow such ignorance to rear its ugly head by producing caricatures of the Holy Prophet(pbhuh)

There is no guarantee on the part of the Danish government that such occurences will not repeat itself in the future

We are suprised that no effort or action has been taken by the ignorant media in your country to understand Islam and the sensitivities of Muslims, thus the caricatures.It is most suprising too that in an age where information can be obtained in minutes, no effort has been forthcoming from such media to properly understand what Islam stands for and deal with it in the rightful manner.

Such attitudes only manifest the true nature of that section of European society, of which the people in Jyllands Posten and you as cheif executive of your country are a part.

Is this the type of values that your 'civilisation' celebrates - values that allow for the denigration of religious beliefs and symbols, values that place freedom in a manner where slander of religion is propagated but not any questioning of the figures killed during the Holocaust for instance?

We take this opportunity to emphasize that:

The Malaysian Muslim community is totally outraged by the insensitivity shown by sections of Danish society as represented by the criminals who produced the caricatures and had them published and further stood by it in the face of protests, and,

It would be prudent on your part to undertake a study of Islam and Muslim sensitivity to avoid crises of this sort in the future, and,

There has been undue extremism displayed by papers like Jyllands Posten and this is completely unacceptable. It is incumbent upon you and your government to put a stop to this, and,

As a result of this unnecessary risk has been imposed upon Danish lives and property as evidenced in violatil areas of the world, and,

As a result of your intransigent stand to defend the paper, it is your economy that is going to face difficulties

This so-called values of secularisme that you proudly stand for has been laid bare for all to see - lies, slander, ignominy and insult - which make a mockery of the multiculturalism and pluralism that secularism is supposedly stand for.

This is no such thing as absolute freedom, only freedom that must be contained in responsibility; the responsibility to ensure that ethnic and religious sensitivities are duly respected.

Despite claims to the contrary, we are convinced that your government's stand on the issue is one of hypocrisy and is downright disspointing. Instead of appropriately reprimanding Jyllands Posten, you chose to defend it; the latter's belated half-hearted apology only adding fuel to the anger of Muslims.

In this era of deliberately created Islamphobia, we in the Muslim world are witnessing unnecessary discriminating by certain sections of the western world, just because of the religion we profess.

We are concerned that this propaganda of phobia agains Islam as manifested in the caricatures carried by the media in Europe but originating from your country, has only served to strengthen to hand of the extremists, provocateurs and like to attack Islam and the Muslims.

We therefore demand that you take the following steps immediately:

1. Extend a sincere and proper apology on behalf of the government of Denmark and its citizens to the world Muslims with a reassurance that such behavior would not recur again in the future.

2. Call for summit of EU members to discuss the issue and come out with a declaration that freedom to speak and publish must respect the sensitivities of all religions of the world, and particular Islam (since it is Islam that has been targeted for quite some time).

3. In respect of (2) above, push for similar declaration that freedom to profess and practice a faith must not be curtailed by any legislation or regulation by European countries.

4. Instruct all your embassies to post an apology to local papers for the caricatures produced by Jyllands Posten.

5. Take concrete steps to ensure that a harmonious relationship between Islam and Europe is realised by initiating concrete moves from your country.

We hope that this memorandum will make you realize the gravity of the problem and you will take immediate steps as outlined above to solve the problem.

THE ISLAMIC PARTY OF MALAYSIA (PAS)
KUALA LUMPUR, 10th February 2006