INTERVIEW Controversial liberal-Islam advocate Irshad Manji says Malaysians must gather the "moral courage" to rise against violence and intimidation in their path toward reforms.

A concept made popular by the late American politician Robert F Kennedy, Manji explained, moral courage "is the willingness to speak truth to the powerful people in your community, for the sake of the greater good to more than in your community".

Added the Uganda-born Canadian author, whose controversial book is banned in Malaysia: "We are not talking about becoming heroes, or about becoming martyrs.

"We are talking about using what you already have inside of you, in order to achieve integrity both for yourself and for your community. If ordinary people can do this, surely so can you," she said in an interview last week...