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November 21, 2009 21:47 PM
Respect, Listen To Each Other To Avoid Conflict, Says Princeton Don
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Countries that share a common political and religious culture like Malaysia and Indonesia must learn to respect and listen to each other in order to avoid conflict, said Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, Prof Richard Falk.
"I do think that states that share a common political and religious culture can collaborate constructively by respecting, listening and understanding each other.
"Learning to listen is a very important aspect of a democratically fruitful conversation and most of us are not very good at listening, we are quite skilled often at talking," he said at a public lecture entitled "Religion and Global Politics" here Saturday.
Falk was responding to a question on issues that cropped up from time to time which affected Malaysia-Indonesia ties, like the overlapping claims on Pulau Sipadan and Ligitan, Malaysia's claim over Ambalat, the issue of Indonesian workers in Malaysia, allegations over abuse of Indonesian immigrants and the latest over the 'pendet' dance issue.
The lecture was co-organised by International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia and International Movement for a Just World (Just). It was chaired by IAIS Founding Chairman Prof Dr Mohammad Hashim Kamali.
Falk also said the media in both countries must play their part in cooling tensions and should not nationalise certain petty issues.
"It's not so easy to do because the media is part of what colonising our minds is about by nationalising truth and one of the functions of the alternate media I think in this era of globalisation is to de-nationalise truth," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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