A civil society group today refuted Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamads claim that Muslims in Malaysia were not ready for inter-faith organisations and dialogues.

International Just World Trust president Dr Chandra Muzaffar said Muslims here have been holding dialogues with other religious leaders even before the country gained independence.

He said the history of inter-religious dialogues begun in 1956 with the Malaysian Inter-Religious Organisation.

When I was president of Aliran (a social reform movement) in the 80s, we also had inter-faith dialogues.

We have continued to do it through Just. It is not something unusual although the number may be small, he said.

Chandra also said the government should promote the consciousness of the importance of shared values and religions via the media and education system.

He said Muslims were neither conservative nor uncomfortable with the idea of inter-faith dialogues, adding that the first major scholarly work on a different faith was done by a Muslim named al-Biruni.

Yesterday, Mahathir when speaking in London, said time and patience were required before Malaysian Muslims were ready for inter-faith organisations and dialogues.

The premier claimed some Muslims were conservative and uncomfortable with such an idea and it would take time to reduce this discomfort and fear of other religious beliefs.

He also added he regularly met leaders of the Malaysian Consultative of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism.

Comparative studies

Echoing Chandras views, was the Muslim Scholars Association of Malaysia (PUM), which said Islam encouraged inter-faith dialogues.

PUM added that comparative studies in religions were conducted by Muslim scholars as far back as the 11th century.

The very basis of Islam promotes peace, justice and freedom through discussions and dialogues.

This is something that comes from God and we are ready to do it anytime, PUMs executive member Mohd Rushdan Jailani told malaysiakini .

Mahathirs comments came amid a religious controversy involving PUM. The association recently took several writers to task for allegedly denigrating Islam.

Earlier this month, PUM and seven other Islamic organisations submitted a memorandum to the Conference of Rulers, urging them to take action against Sisters in Islam executive director Zainah Anwar, malaysiakini and New Straits Times columnist Dr Farish A Noor, The Sun columnist Akbar Ali, academic Kassim Ahmad, lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and University Malaya lecturer Dr Patricia Martinez.

On Monday, 25 civil society groups and 26 individuals issued a joint-statement at the office of the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) in Kuala Lumpur in defence of the writers right to freedom of expression.