I am however a bit surprised that you have been complimentary rather than critical of the proposal of the visitor to this Nucleus Steering Committee (NSC) initiative. I for one was extremely surprised that such an imitative came from a country such as Singapore whose clout as an economic power is beyond question but whose stature as a political power is insignificant. Then again, Singapore is a non-Muslim state. What business has it to tell us that we need to project a moderate face of Islam?

Islam as we all know is a peace loving religion and its name is synonymous with peace itself. In fact, there is just this one face of Islam and we do not need to explain ourselves to anyone. When we think of an initiative such as this one it implies that we have to defend ourselves. The question that obviously comes to mind then is why do we have to defend in the first place. The misconception about Islam is in the minds of the non-Muslims and if they want to live in peace with the Muslim nations, it is their duty to learn about us and if a steering committee needs to be formed, Singapore should go ahead and form this steering committee with countries that are interested to deal positively with the Muslim nations.

The pertinent point is the violence that today prevails in some of the Muslim nations today is due to causes that have very little religious basis in Islam. Take the example of Palestine where the Palestinian Muslims and Christians are fighting an illegal occupation. This is not a religious war and not even only of the Muslims alone. Osama bin Laden's acts of terrorism were initially supported by the US while they were directed against the Soviets and his initial cause of revolt was also not religious for it was directed against the Saudi Royal Family. He became the terrorist when the US forsake him and he took the Islamic cause only as a ploy that no one among the Muslims but his own group supports. So why should the Muslim nations who are as peace loving as others prove their commitment to peace? When the Christians fought in Ireland, Christianity was not questioned though the acts of terrorism in Ireland were entirely religious.

The editorial has also failed to take into view the fact that Singapore actively supported the US war on terrorism after 9/11 and this NSC is surely initiated by the US, a country whose credentials among the Muslims is to say the least most unpopular. Joining this initiative may therefore also not be seen as a popular one among the Muslim countries. The government needs to take these points into view before allowing the foreign ministry to jump into the fray.