Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak gives the keynote speech at the first international conference of the Global Movement of Moderates in Kuala Lumpur on January 17th, 2012. The event brought together over 400 delegates from 70 countries to promote the values of peace and stability worldwide. [Photo: GRACE CHEN]

The Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) held its inaugural conference this week as over 400 attendees from 70 countries convened in the Malaysian capital under the banner of promoting peace and stability and rejecting extremism.

In his keynote speech Tuesday (January 17th), Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who spearheaded the movement in his 2010 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, urged individuals and governments to work to marginalize extremism in their home countries.

"It is for moderates everywhere to stand firm and stand proud, ensuring that frustrations, wherever they are felt, are heeded, and that voices, wherever they speak out, are heard," Najib said.

Najib also announced the foundation of the Institute of Wasatiyyah, or moderation in Arabic, to which a chair will be named to enhance the Institute's reach and reputation.

"This is what the church has been praying for," Right Reverend Datuk Bolly A. Lapok, the Anglican Bishop of Kuching, told Khabar Southeast Asia. "The ultimate task is to filter this down to the people and the existence of a chair for us in the Institute is a concrete step."

The director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, summed up the end goal of the GMM, which is to enhance relationships between people of different faiths.

He believes this should be introduced as the fourth 'R' in education policies.

"In teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, we are merely producing an industrial worker. It is time to teach our young how to make friends. Only when you can eliminate this divide will you foster understanding and thus, peace," he told Khabar South Asia.

And there is no better place than multiethnic Malaysia to be an example of moderation, said Dr. Khaliq Ahmad, dean of the Kulliyyah [Faculty] of Economics and Management Services at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

"We don't practice the 'melting pot' concept," he told Khabar Southeast Asia, smiling. "We are like a salad, where difference is celebrated."

With the rise of Asia as an economic powerhouse, emerging democracies in the region have a new responsibility to be a voice for moderation, Ernest Bower, Southeast Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank, said in his speech to the GMM.

"Successful governments, international frameworks, regional architecture and enduring strategies will have to take this moderating force of the voice of the voters [into account] to be effective and survive in the 21st century," Bower said.

"The year of the dragon presents Southeast Asia and its partners with important questions. The coming year will reveal who understands this strategic thrust and who is willing to invest in achieving the goal."