The Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah has called on Muslims to strive to remove controversial matters at the early stage so that they will not spread and cause confrontation.

"Controversial matters should not be taken lightly and should instead be nipped in the bud before they spread," he said when opening the 169th conference of the Perak Islamic Religion and Malay Customs Council (MAIAMP), in Ipoh today.

judges conference 090408 raja nazrin He said history had proven that wars and confrontations had started due to trivial matters where things that were controversial in nature could easily invite reaction which would widen misunderstanding and could in fact lead to a confrontation.

The people should strive to achieve success and should not jeopardise harmony and solidarity purely to protect their ego to the detriment of everyone, Raja Nazrin said.

He did not specifically refer to the ‘Allah’ controversy which was sparked by by a High Court's Dec 31 decision to lift a government ban on non-Muslims using 'Allah' as a translation for 'God'.

The ruling in favour of Catholic newspaper Herald , which argued for the right to use 'Allah' in its Malay-language section, was suspended last week pending an appeal, after the government argued that 'Allah' is exclusive to Malay Muslims.

Wrong signal

Raja Nazrin said solidarity was key in ensuring harmonious relations between the various races and it could only be achieved through mutual understanding.

He said that anything that could enhance understanding should be encouraged while things that could cause misunderstandings should be avoided.

The Raja Muda also directed MAIAMP to carry out a complete analysis of its achievements last year and conduct a sincere port-mortem to acknowledge whatever shortcomings or weaknesses there were throughout 2009.

"Mistakes and shortcomings should not be covered up because they would give a wrong signal that would lead to bigger mistakes being made later," Raja Nazrin said.

- Bernama