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Saudi king's Malaysia trip targets Muslim concerns

Posted on: Monday, 30 January 2006, 02:27 CST

By Jalil Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - King Abdullah begins on Monday the first visit by a Saudi monarch to Muslim Malaysia in 36 years, a trip whose potential could stretch past concerns over trade and oil to offer ways to reshape the Islamic world.

Analysts said King Abdullah, who is leading a delegation of 300 people, cabinet ministers and businessmen among them, could draw a lesson from fast industrializing Malaysia, which champions the view that Islam and modernity are not mutually exclusive.

"Malaysia's importance stems from the fact that the entire Muslim world views it as a successful model of a modern Islamic state," said Abdulaziz Sages, chairman of the Gulf Research Center, based in Dubai.

"As the leader of the Islamic world that houses the holiest shrines, Saudi Arabia is grappling with the process of internalizing the virtues of moderation and modernization under the leadership of King Abdullah," Sages said in an article published on Sunday.

"Drawing from the reservoir of Malaysia's experience could not only prove beneficial to Saudi Arabia, but could chart a peaceful, progressive and prosperous road map to the entire Islamic world as well," he wrote.

King Abdullah, who will arrive in Malaysia at 0830 GMT on an Asian tour that has included China and India, will hold talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, current head of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The summit comes at a time when Muslim nations increasingly find themselves grappling with problems of poverty, unemployment, economic instability and a global tide of fear over militants who claim inspiration from Islamic principles.

TIES HAVE NEVER BEEN BETTER

Ties between Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur have never been better. Abdullah, an Islamic scholar by training, has visited Saudi Arabia at least three times since taking office late in 2003.

"I see there are a lot of similarities in the thinking, especially in the approaches to develop Islam's image by being open and competitive," said a Malaysian deputy minister, Zainuddin Maidin, who was in Saudi recently.

Malaysia, whose Muslims make up just over half its population of 26 million, is similar to an Arab state in many ways. The Southeast Asian country is a net petroleum exporter, an OIC member and a U.S. ally in the war against terror but a vocal critic of U.S. handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The country is also increasingly a magnet for Arab tourists, who shun many Western countries since September 11, 2001. This year alone, more than 200,000 Arabs visited Malaysia, up from just 50,000 a year before September 11.

Malaysia's ties with the Arab world date back to the 13th century, when Arab traders brought Islam to Southeast Asia.

The Malay language uses both Roman and Arabic scripts and some Malaysians, such as the Syed clan, trace their roots to Yemen and other Arab states.

Tens of thousands of Muslim Malaysians travel annually to Saudi, the birthplace of Islam, for the haj pilgrimage.

As Muslims across the world seek answers on how to re-shape Islam to fight terrorism, preach tolerance and moderation and gain respect, Malaysia's Abdullah offers a ready solution.

He calls it Islam Hadhari, or 'civilizational' Islam.

"We in Malaysia would like to show by example that a Muslim country can be modern, democratic, tolerant and economically competitive," Abdullah said in a speech. "Islam does not enjoin us to turn our backs against the rest of the world."

Source: REUTERS

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