Al Haj U Aye Lwin is Chief Convener, The Islamic Centre of Myanmar; Chairman, Islamic Development Bank Counterpart Organization/ Program Implementation Committee, Myanmar; and Founding member, Religions for Peace/Inter-religious Council, Myanmar.
This paper was originally presented at the “Interfaith Academic Conference for Security, Peace and Co-existence,” held October 1-2 at the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy Yangon campus, Myanmar, and has been shared with ISLAMiCommentary and TIRN. That conference was jointly organized by the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) and Sitagu International Buddhist Missionary Association (SIBMA).
by AL HAJ U AYE LWIN on OCTOBER 1, 2013:
It is indeed an honor for me to participate in this august forum with the aim and vision to comparatively examine the inter-relationships between and among education, religion, and security in the context of co-existence. I would like to thank the Almighty for giving me this opportunity to present a paper on Islamic perspective. My thanks also goes to the organizers the Sitagu International Buddhist Missionary Association and the Institute for Global Engagement.
It is an established fact that Myanmar’s beauty is enhanced because of its unity in diversity. No religion originates from Myanmar and all the ethnics races existing in Myanmar migrated from different parts of the world at different times.
Myanmar which is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious pluralistic society is the shining example of people of different nature co-existing for centuries. Being different is not a crime or a sin. The only thing is we need to manage the difference. Diversity is never a threat on the contrary it is indeed strength. It would be an overstatement if one tries to paint a rosy picture and say that Myanmar never experiences any social disputes amongst its cosmopolitan populace. There were problems, however Myanmar regarded them as individual quarrels, arguments, disagreements or even violent fights. The conflicts were never branded as religious or racial. Continue reading →