I would like to begin
by congratulating the President on his election. His
wisdom and experience will stand him in good stead as
he guides the General Assembly.
I would like to pay tribute to the health workers
who are fighting Ebola in West Africa. Malaysia was
able to contribute more than 20 million rubber gloves
to help the doctors and nurses who are working to stop
the outbreak. Our prayers are with them.
I also wish to thank all those who came to
Malaysia’s aid in this difficult year. Flights MH-370
and MH-17 were tragedies that will stay with us forever.
As we mourn the loss of life, we take heart from the
compassion shown by our friends. Their support will
not be forgotten. We thank our friends and allies who
are giving their time and their resources to help find
Flight MH-370. Men and women continue to risk their
lives searching the deepest oceans. We owe them our
gratitude and our commitment. We will not give up the
search. We are also grateful to our international partners
that are working together to investigate the loss of Flight
MH-17. Malaysia will continue to seek justice for those
who died. We urge all parties to continue to cooperate
with the investigation. We also hope that those two
tragedies will change the global aviation system for the
better and that nations will unite behind new standards
for aircraft tracking and overflying conflict zones.
Four years ago, I stood before the General Assembly
and called for a global movement of moderates to
counter extremism (see A/65/PV.19). Last year, I
spoke of the conflict between Sunni and Shia that is
tearing the Muslim world apart (see A/68/PV.18). Now
those two forces — violent extremism and religious
intolerance — have joined hands beneath a black flag.
Two countries fractured by war face a new threat — a
self-declared Islamic State. Its victims are Sunni and
Shia, Yazidi and Kurd — anyone who will not bow
before the sword.
That so-called State, torn from existing nations with
violence, rules by violence. Its authority is maintained
by forced conversions and public executions. Its
militants have destroyed lives and communities. They
have destabilized fragile nations and threatened regional
security. Yet their dark ambition stretches further still.
They challenge the very notion of the State. They call
to our youth with the siren song of illegitimate jihad.
They demand that all Muslims swear allegiance to their
so-called caliph. That demand will never be met. We
reject the so-called Islamic State. We reject such a State
defined by extremism. We condemn the violence being
committed in the name of Islam.
Around the world, Muslims have watched in despair
as our religion — a religion of peace — has been used
to justify atrocities. We have turned away in horror at
the crucifixions and the beheadings. We have mourned
the sons who have been stolen and the daughters who
have been sold. We know that the threat to world peace
and security is not Islam but extremism — intolerant,
violent and militant extremism. The actions of those
militants are beyond conscience and belief. They
violate the teachings of Islam, the example set by the
Prophet Muhammad and the principles of Islamic law.
As we speak, some Syrians and Iraqis are being
forced to abandon their faith. Yet the Koran states:
“There shall be no compulsion in religion” (The
Holy Koran II:256). They are being forced from their
homes and forced to convert to Islam. Yet the Koran
says: “To you be your religion, and to me my religion”
(ibid., CIX:6). If they do not comply, they face death.
Yet the protection of life is a fundamental precept of
Islamic law, and the killing of civilians, even in war, is
prohibited in Islam.
The question is: How should we respond? In the
past, when the world mobilized to fight extremists, we
launched wars without planning for peace. We attacked
one evil only to see a greater evil emerge. This time
must be different. This time, we must defeat not only
the extremists but also their ideas. We must confront
the heresy of a State conceived by ungodly men and
enforced through violence. In its place, we must advance
the true Islam — the Islam founded on the principles of
peace, tolerance and respect, as set out in the Koran, the
Sunna and the Hadith. There are key things we must do.
First, security and statehood must be returned to
the people of Syria and Iraq. Malaysia co-sponsored
Security Council resolution 2178 (2014) on foreign
terrorist fighters to strengthen our commitment to
galvanizing international action to combat terrorism.
We call on the international community to stop the flow
of money and recruits to extremist groups. We continue
to offer humanitarian assistance under the ambit of the
United Nations or internationally recognized bodies
to those who are displaced by the fighting. Attacks
on militant targets should, at all cost, avoid collateral
damage.
Secondly, we must pursue a different kind of
politics. The emergence of such militants is a symptom
of political failure, of poor governance in fragile States
and the conflict that still rages between Sunni and
Shia. We must break the cycle where one group gains
power only to wield it against the other, and where
marginalization leads to radicalization, as people
lose confidence in the State’s ability to provide both
security and coexistence. Individuals and ethnic and
religious groups need to feel that they have a stake in
a nation’s success, not its failure. We should therefore
commit to more inclusive politics. That is a difficult
task. It demands pragmatism and compromise and must
come from within.
Malaysia stands ready to share its experience
in marginalizing extremism, in maintaining a
multireligious country, where different faiths coexist
and prosper, and in showing that Islam can not only
succeed but also drive progress and development in a
pluralistic society. Like all nations, we have had our
growing pains. Stability is never permanent. It must be
actively maintained. But in Malaysia, there are streets
in which mosques, temples and churches stand side by
side. Ours is a society in which religions may differ,
but they do so in peace, in the knowledge that we are all
citizens of one nation.
We believe that such a moderate approach can
make a valuable contribution to fragile States and
international affairs alike. It is a philosophy that we
have applied when acting as an honest broker in peace
processes in the southern Philippines and elsewhere.
It is a principle that we will pursue as we chair the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next
year, when it forms the 600-million strong ASEAN
Community, with greater political security and
economic and sociocultural integration.
In the coming weeks, Malaysia will work with all
interested partners to move the moderation agenda
forward at the United Nations. That work informs our
bid for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for
the coming term. The moderation agenda involves us
all. The fight against extremism is not about Christians
versus Muslims or Muslims versus Jews but moderates
versus extremists of all religions. We need to rally a
coalition of moderates — those willing to reclaim their
religion and pursue the path to peace.
I therefore reiterate my call on the leading figures
in all the great religious traditions. Let us join together
to ensure that religion is the source of healing and
blessing rather than conflict and destruction. In that
respect, I welcome Pope Francis’s visit to Palestine and
his efforts to bring moderate Palestinians and Israelis
together to pray for peace. By demonstrating moderation
in the political process, we can ensure that no one is left
outside society. By practising moderation in religion,
we can marginalize the extremists. By committing to
moderation here at the United Nations, we can show
that the world is willing to fight extremism not just
with short-term military operations but with long-term
plans.
The security response of the international
community and a commitment to more inclusive politics
on the part of affected countries will remove two of the
conditions that allow extremism to take hold. However,
in order to defeat the extremists, we must undermine
their authority and erode their appeal. We must
confront their propaganda. We must defeat the message
that seduces young people into acts of violence. And
we must address any legitimate grievances that drive
people to extremism, be they political or economic. In
short, we must win the hearts and minds of those who
would serve the so-called caliph.
That is the work of a generation. To begin, we
should focus on the real-world conditions that allow
disillusion to grow. That means building sustainable
economies that bring opportunities for our young
people and addressing legitimate concerns that drive
radicalization.
Malaysia, like so many countries around the
world, was appalled by the brutal violence against
Palestinian civilians in Gaza. We strongly condemn
Israel’s disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks
on Gaza and its continuing violations of international
and human rights law. The use of heavy weapons in
civilian areas and the obliteration of houses, mosques
and schools were an affront to common decency. We
condemn such acts not just for the innocent lives taken
but for the message that they send, namely, that religions
cannot coexist and that the international community
cannot enforce international law and protect the rights
of Palestinians. Their plight is one of the most effective
rallying calls for those who claim that the international
system is broken.
Let us therefore unite to find a peaceful, just and
lasting outcome that brings dignity and security to the
people of Palestine. That should be predicated on a
two-State solution based on the 1967 borders, with East
Jerusalem as its capital. That will bring dignity and
security for the people of Palestine, who have suffered
so much, and will allow us to redouble our efforts to
bring peace to other parts of the world where conflict
fuels extremism.
We must also understand why those militants
succeed in drawing people to their cause. The
extremists call upon Muslims to pledge their allegiance
to their self-proclaimed caliphates in Syria and Iraq,
in Nigeria and Somalia and in Kenya and Libya. They
reach out to a people in search of a State. The fact that
some answer that call is testament to our failure. We
have failed to uphold a vision of moderate and inclusive
Islamic development and to tackle isolation in our own
communities.The fight against extremists must be won
not just in Syria and Iraq but also in Britain, Belgium,
the United States and Malaysia. We have managed
to prevent extremism from gaining a foothold in our
country. Yet even a few Malaysians have been lured
by foreign terrorist fighters, who led them to Iraq and
Syria.
Countries must educate, include and, where
necessary, confront those at risk of radicalization. Our
religious leaders must continue to show that faith and
society are best aligned under a just rule of law. We
must continue to make the case that the moderate path
is the righteous path — the path that Allah set out for
us when he said, “we have made you into a community
that is moderate, justly balanced” (ibid., II:143).
We must confront the myth that committing
atrocities in the name of an Islamic State is an act of
faith and that death in the service of that aim brings
martyrdom. The extremists use that distorted narrative
as a recruitment tool. To counter that deception,
Muslims should work together to promote a greater
understanding of what a true Islamic State means. An
international conference of scholars of Islamic law,
convened by my Government to define the true meaning
of an Islamic State, agreed that for a State to be called
Islamic, it must deliver economic, political and social
justice. It must protect and further the six objectives of
Islamic law: the right to life, religion, family, property,
dignity and intellect — the same universal rights that
are enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of
Human Rights.
The so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and
the methods used to declare it have violated every
single one of those objectives. It is therefore neither
Islamic nor a State. Individuals, religious leaders and
nations have said that and must continue to do so and
to advocate for Islamic principles within a framework
of tolerance, understanding and peace.That, after all, is
the true nature of Islam; a religion of peace that values
coexistence, mutual comprehension and learning,
even in times of struggle. When 70 prisoners of war
were captured during the Battle of Badr, for example,
the Prophet Muhammad was urged to slay them.
The Prophet not only protected the lives of innocent
civilians, he also spared enemy combatants.
It is that spirit of understanding and compassion
that we should continue to embrace and espouse. Now
is the time to advance a vision of peace and moderation.
Let us call for a global community of understanding.
Let us prove that we can honour the words of the
Prophet and build balanced and just societies, where
different faiths live and prosper in peace. Let us show
that Muslims, united in faith, can be a powerful force
for progress, knowledge and justice, as we were in the
greatest periods of our history, as we can be today, and
as we will be tomorrow.