IIPC Media Release:
International Interfaith Peace Conference 2022 – Kuala Lumpur resolved for the need for more sustained effort to create dialogue of peace and harmony between the religious adherents.
Governments must see this effort as an investment rather than an expense by providing enough resources on a sustained basis.
Amidst the backdrop of the oppression of religious and ethnic minorities in many countries around the world, the International Interfaith Peace Conference (IIPC) 2022 with the theme “Compassion – The Antidote to Religious Intolerance” was held on Saturday, 25 June 2022 for the first time in Malaysia.
Organised by the Allied Coordinating Council of Islamic NGOs Malaysia (ACCIN) in collaboration with Pure Land Learning College Association and Australia (PLLCA) and Pure Land Amitabha Group – Malaysia (PLAG).
The event was also supported by the Buddhist Maha Vihara Temple, Brickfields (MBVT), ABIM and Pertubuhan IKRAM Malaysia.
The conference was attended by delegates from Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia comprising of people from various faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
The talks from the various religious leaders and panellists highlighted the values of understanding, respect and most of all compassion in interacting with one another despite our theological differences. The importance of education in developing the value of compassion was stressed in a panel discussion.
In his opening address, Conference chairman and ACCIN CEO, Hj Ir Mohd Jamaludin Shamsudin mentioned the painstaking efforts to organise this program which had been delayed for two years due to the pandemic. He expressed his hope that the resolutions from this conference will be beneficial reference in policy development for the respective authorities.
YB Senator Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, Deputy Minister of National Unity, in his officiating address, remarked that Malaysia has always been a melting pot of diverse ethnicities and cultures and is an appropriate place to hold a conference of this nature. He highlighted the verse from the Qur’an (Al-Hujurat-49:13): “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted,” which stresses that mankind was created to live in harmony with one another.
He gave a sterling example in Islamic history in medievial Spain where an atmosphere of tolerance existed among Christians, Jews and Muslims in which literature, science and arts flourished. He also acknowledged that issues and conflicts that arise should not be swept under the carpet but dealt with in a fair and transparent manner.
The conference was preceded by a highly interactive youth workshop which was aimed at getting the participants to break the barriers of religion and ethnicity, know one another more closely and see how they could use their youthful energy to cooperate for the common good. A special meeting of the “International Advisory Panel – PLLCA Australia” chaired by its current Chairman, Hj Ir Mohd Jamaludin, CEO of ACCIN was also held to discuss the resolutions of the conference and moving forward plans.
At the end of the conference, Mr. Haniff Abdul Razak, Director of the Multifaith Multicultural Centre in Toowoomba, Australia praised the effort put in by the ACCIN CEO and his team as well as the local partners in making this conference a roaring success and expressed his earnest hope and confidence that a much bigger conference can be organised by ACCIN and its partners in Malaysia in the near future to reach out to a much wider audience . This could be a prelude to the organisation of similar conferences in many other countries to spread the message of peace as widely as possible.
