Stop the Demonising, Malaysia Warns

Australian, Australia
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Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia):
Osama bin Laden does not speak for Islam and not every Muslim is a terrorist, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday as he urged the West and Muslims to stop demonising each other to prevent disputes such as the prophet Mohammed cartoon furore.
His comments at an international conference came as Malaysia slapped a blanket ban on circulating or even possessing cartoons of the prophet.
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See Also:
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The Government has also closed a local newspaper, the Sarawak Tribune, for printing the same caricatures that have enraged the Islamic world.
It is now an offence in Malaysia to publish, import, produce, manufacture, circulate, distribute or possess caricatures that may "jeopardise public harmony and safety, which may cause chaos, or endanger public peace or national interest".
At the conference in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Abdullah, an Islamic scholar, warned of a "huge chasm that has emerged between the West and Islam", particularly because of Muslim frustrations over Western policies towards Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Many in the West see Islam as synonymous with violence, and view a Muslim as "a congenital terrorist", he told the conference.