KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — Amid increasingly strained interfaith ties here, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to drive home his message of moderation at an international convention promoting unity to Malaysians next month.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will also speak at the 3rd International Muslim Unity Convention, which carries the theme of “Yes To Moderation, No To Extremism”.

The expected presence of the two leaders at the event was announced by Ramadhan Foundation Malaysia’s CEO Shahul Hameed Dawood today, who said: “We have sent an invitation to the Prime Minister’s office”.

Interfaith relations in Malaysia has taken a hit in recent years, compounded by the unfettered rise of right-wing Muslim groups like Perkasa and the Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma).

The country’s minority groups have lashed out at the authorities’ allegedly nonchalant responses to remarks issued by Muslim fundamentalists against the sensitivities of the non-Muslims here, insisting that their inaction have only emboldened these groups and others into inciting more violence and hatred.

Last month, a controversial seminar held at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) earned headlines when several Muslim speakers criticised Christianity, even saying that Christians should convert to Islam.

Isma has also been seen as taking a stronger stance on religion. Last month, the group labelled liberty and human rights as godless and faithless ideologies.

Despite this, however, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah today expressed hope that the international convention next month will steer Malaysians towards interfaith dialogues to improve ties between those of different religions.

Saifuddin, the CEO of the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation which is the co-organiser of the event, is also listed as a speaker.

Co-organiser Ramadhan Foundation UK had held the first convention in January 2005.

According to Shahul Hameed, the 2nd International Muslim Unity Convention held here in 2009 had attracted over 600 participants, with individuals from over 10 countries also joining it.

The two-day event, which will be held at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre from June 11 to 12 this year, is open to the public.

Topics at the convention include tackling “Islamaphobia” in the media, ideological obstructions to Muslim unity in the world and the role of interfaith in the world.

Discrimination among Muslims, as well as the role and rights of women in Islam will also be discussed by Muslim intellectuals at the event.

The speakers for the event includes the United Nations general assembly’s former president Tan Sri Razali Ismail, the United Arab Emirates president’s special advisor H.E. Sayyed Ali Hashimi, US president Barack Obama’s special envoy to the OIC H.E Ambassador Rashad Hussain.

Ramadhan Foundation chairman Sheikh Muhammad Umar ibn Ramadhan, US’s Islamic Supreme Council of America chairman Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani and former US president Richard Nixon’s former advisor Dr Robert F Dixon Crane are also among the speakers involved.

The Barack H. Obama Foundation chairman H.E Malik Obama, former Maldives president H.E Mohamed Nasheed and Prince of Al-Ansar’s Sheikh Dr Ahmed al Khazraji are also scheduled to speak.

On April 30, influential UK paper Financial Times columnist David Pilling had wrote that growing religious intolerance in Asian countries could turn into a “disaster” for the region.

He had cited Malaysia as an example of yet another country with “hardening ideology” but did not elaborate on the disaster this might cause.