Malaysia minister asks Muslims to condemn Paris attacks

Muslims must send a strong message that violence, whether against fellow Muslims or non-Muslims, cannot be tolerated, a senior Malaysian minister said today, a day after the horrific terror attacks in Paris that killed over 120 people.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said Muslims reject all forms of violence whether by terrorists or state organised.
"Violence begets violence and history has proven that violence has never been the way to solve conflicts.
"However, as long as the large silent majority remain silent and do not condemn such terrorist acts then it would be perceived that the silence means tacit support," he posted on his blog today.

Salleh said that since the terror attacks of September 2001 in the US, Islam has been perceived as a violent religion and those giving the religion this negative image were Muslims themselves.
"Unfortunately, in all these tragedies it was the work of Muslims. And this is another tragedy because Islam is as much the victim as those killed and wounded.
"What the West may not realise is that there are more than a billion Muslims but just a small minority commit these terrorist acts while the majority of Muslims are peace loving and reject violence," Salleh was quoted as saying by the state-run Bernama news agency.

Malaysia is a Muslim majority country with 60 per cent Malays who are all Muslims, 25 per cent ethnic Chinese who are Buddhists or Christians and eight per cent ethnic Indians who are mostly Hindus.