An ‘Inter-religious Understanding Committee’ is being set up under the National Unity and Integration Department to promote harmony between the different religions in the country, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Koh Tsu Koon told Parliament today.

permatang pasir by election 110809 penang bc chairman koh tsu koon "It is a committee to promote understanding and harmony, straightforward. Purely leaders of various religions sitting together with the relevant government departments. Let the religious leaders with all their spirituality sit down and have a dialogue."

Koh ( left ) said the committee would be chaired by Ilani Isahak, the former MP for Kota Bahru, and would comprise senior representatives from the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), the Institute of Islamic Understanding (Ikim) as well as from the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST).

Koh said the special committee was not a rigid structure and was just a framework to provide an interaction and interchange of ideas.

Sidestepping the thorny objection to the proposed 'interfaith council' mooted during former premier Abdullah Badawi's tenure, Koh promptly said the committee was not to be referred to as an 'interfaith council'.

Not ‘inter-faith’

"We don't want to call it an interfaith panel. It is a special committee to promote understanding and harmony amongst religions or in short an ‘inter-religious understanding committee’.

"For example, they will look at issues related to intermarriages that involve conversion as well as if some marriages don't work out and to decide what happens in questions regarding the custody of children.’

interfaith Koh said that while these issues were also being looked at by the government through the various departments, there were also matters they wanted to get feedback on.

"Let them (the committee) exchange views and get a better understanding of one another. (They will be) reporting to cabinet through me as the minister-in-charge.

"So the idea is to actually hold discussions, both informal and sometimes more structured meetings, to promote understanding and harmony" said Koh.

Koh elaborated that Ilani was the right person for the job.

"She is a hajah . She is the former MP for Kota Bahru but she has not been active politically for quite a while. Very significantly, she has been in good personal contact with all the major religious leaders in the country.

Castles in the air

Meanwhile, on another matter, Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) questioned Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's fiscal discipline and accused him of irresponsibility in managing Malaysia's finances.

"Is Najib building castles in the air?"asked the veteran opposition politician when debating the Supplementary Budget Bill in Parliament.

He pointed to the various supplementary budgets being tabled which he said had derailed the national budget.

budget 2007 2008 general "Malaysia's budgeting has again gone awry with the budget deficit in 2009 shooting to as high as 7.9 percent of the GDP this year."

This, Lim said, was surprising because Najib once promised that the deficit was to decline to 5.6 percent of the GDP this year.

Lim demanded an explanation from the government over what he said was mismanagement of the nation's funds and the ‘extraordinary construction methods’ Najib was using to build his policies.

"(He is) building his ‘1Malaysia’ house roof first and then he pillars without a floor as the NEM Part 2 has been deferred further to the third quarter of the year."