Malaysia to curb Islamophobia

Posted by Diana Epstein on May 3, 2006 at 4:04 PM

The Malaysian government will help partially fund a proposed Muslim media center aimed at countering attacks on Islam and negative images of the religion. Hosting an international center for Muslim journalists, the center would provide a meeting point for Muslim journalists to discuss common issues and provide an antidote to growing Islamophobia.

The proposed International Islamic Journalism Center would offer training courses and fellowship for Muslims and also educate non-Muslim journalists about the religion.

Malaysia's information minister Zainuddin Maidin said that Malaysia was willing to partially fund the center, but gave no date for when it would be opened.

The minister also said that journalists should be aware of attempts by Western media to undermine the religion and manipulate Muslim sentiment, according to the Middle East Times

The center is not intended to "fight with the west", he said. "We only want to inform [the international community] about the real situation in the Islamic world."

Source: Middle East Times [Through the European Journalism Centre]

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