We note that you carried an article on June 29 which bore the title ' Inter-religious meet marred by Muslim groups' boycott '.

In that article you had quoted a group of Islamic NGOs saying that the proposed Inter-religious Council "would be empowered to alter the teachings of Islam for the convenience of non-Muslims and even to the extent of allowing Muslims the wish to renounce their religion".

You had further stated that the above view or position had "the support of the Bar Council Syariah Committee".

Your aforesaid statement is clearly incorrect. Neither the Bar Council nor any of its committees (including the Syariah Laws Committee) supports the view or position quoted by you (as stated above) and attributed to those groups.

The Bar Council had organised the workshop to provide a forum for a meaningful and constructive discussion on the need or desirability of forming an Inter-religious Council in Malaysia.

The workshop turned out to be very fruitful, and its participants (who had comprised many Muslim individuals) were in favour of a statutory body that was to be consultative and advisory in nature.

At no time was there any intention of, let alone discussion on or attempt at, "altering" the teachings of any religion. Hence, to say that the Bar Council Syariah Laws Committee supports the stand described by you in the aforesaid article is incorrect and misleading.

We regret to note that you had published a statement (in a factual manner) of a position that is attributed to the Bar Council (or its committee) without first verifying the same with the chairperson or other office bearers of the Bar Council.

Mohd Sofian Abd Razak

Secretary, Bar Council

Editor's Note:

We apologise to the Bar Council and its Syariah Laws Committee by the inferences made in the report which were originally published elsewhere. We had attempted to contact the Syariah Committee chairperson who was unavailable to comment on the reported stand taken relating to the Inter-religious Council.