The fiery remarks made at the recent Umno general assembly has created an 'air of uncertainty' among Malaysians of all faiths, said the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism (MCCBCHS).

"We urgently need greater dialogue between representatives of all our religions in order to achieve solutions to the inter-faith problems faced by Malaysians.

"We ask the government who represents itself to be a government for all Malaysians to immediately take the lead on this," said MCCBCHS honorary secretary general R Thiagaraja in a statement.

He said some of the Umno delegates showed a lack of tolerance and respect for non-Muslims, contrary to the directive of party president and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

During the assembly, many delegates criticised the proposed formation of the Inter-Faith Commission (IFC) and the nationwide forums organised by religious rights coalition Article 11.

Initiatives misconstrued

Responding to this, Thiagaraja said: "The Article 11 coalition's initiatives are regrettably not well understood and have been misconstrued. The forums did not attack any religion, but merely pointed out that the Constitution protects the rights of all Malaysians,

"The proposed Inter-Faith Commission poses no threat at all to any religion but is intended to be a body which performs a purely advisory, consultative and conciliatory role in protecting and promoting religious harmony," he added.

While the MCCBCHS was a staunch advocate of the IFC and key member of Article 11, it was not directly criticised during the assembly unlike several other NGOs .

The strong remarks made during the assembly drew flak from various quarters. This prompted the Umno supreme council to consider 'the wisdom' in screening the proceedings live on television.

This year's assembly was the first to see its entire proceedings televised live on the Astro satellite channel. Previously, only the opening and closing speeches of top leaders were shown live.