The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) has expressed concern over a religion-themed seminar that it said trampled on, rather than tackled, inter-faith issues.

The seminar held at a Selangor university yesterday had Muslim scholars pointing out the errors of the Christian religion and how it posed a danger to Malaysia.

NECF said this was aimed at confusing and prompting Muslim students at the seminar to be prejudiced against people of other faiths.

"One could perhaps ask how Muslims would feel, if followers of other faiths were to invite their experts to interpret how the Quran should be written.

"This seminar smacks of gross insensitivity and goes against the grain of Prime Minister Najib’s 1Malaysia policy," NECF secretary-general Eugene Yapp said in a press statement today.

Yapp urged the government never to let such a seminar to take place again, for the sake of maintaining peace and harmony in the country.

About 1,000 people attended the seminar on 'The word 'Allah' and Christology in the Malay Archipelago' at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam yesterday.

The crowd comprised largely university and secondary school students.
 
Extremism slammed

In similar vein, the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) also slammed extremism in Malaysia yesterday evening. Although he did not point to the seminar, GMM CEO and former Umno MP Saifuddin Abdullah urged the government to take action.
 
"Stop anti-Chinese & anti-Christian sentiments before it turns to something worse. Authorities should investigate & act accordingly," Saifuddin (right) wrote on @saifuddinabd. It was retweeted 122 times over.
 
GMM was sparked by Premier Najib Abdul Razak in 2012 during which he told the conference that moderation was the bedrock of Malaysia's success.
 
"Malaysia has long been synonymous not with extremism but with moderation, tolerance, inclusivity and even acceptance.
 
"In a predominantly Muslim country with substantial communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Taoists and Sikhs, we know well the “dignity of difference.

"We have many ethnic groups, many religions, but we continually strive to be a harmonious and truly united nation predicated on the values of moderation and the spirit of 1Malaysia," Najib had said.
 
'Hot air and baseless'

Human rights lawyer Annou Xavier, meanwhile also expressed worry that extremists NGOs conducting demonstrations and forums which are all "hot air and baseless" have gripped the imagination of Muslims more than the prime minister's dictate.
 
He noted that both ex-premier Abdullah Badawi's Islam Hadhari and even Najib's call for Malaysia to become a moderate Muslim nation have gone unheeded.
 
"We see little of these hadhari or moderate Islamic minds in our country, but more and growing extremism with the springing of new Muslim NGOs, like mushrooms that pop out after a rainfall. 
 
"These NGOs have a common trait of creating insinuations or a metaphor with no truth or evidence at all," Annou (left) said in a press statement. 
 
Annou added that as a solution, perhaps other civil societies should invite these "confused" NGOs for a 'teh tarik session', to educate them on the truth.

UiTM seminar was 'hate speech', says CFM