KUALA LUMPUR: The European Union (EU) is not Islamophobic, and the brazen act of extremists burning the Quran does not reflect the true picture of the bloc.
EU Ambassador to Malaysia, Michalis Rokas, said the recent acts of the two extremists, who burned the holy book, were deplorable and the EU had made clear its position in not condoning them.
"My message is, do not perceive Europe as Islamophobic," he said at Wisma Bernama here today (Jan 30).
Earlier, while appearing on The Nation programme on Bernama TV, Rokas said those extremists' actions did not reflect what Europe is and how it thinks.
"It does not reflect Europe's attitude, especially towards the Muslim world," he said.
Rokas said there was a need for dialogues between the West and Muslim states, including Malaysia as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on this issue, to create a better understanding among people of different faiths.
"We should not allow such incidents to happen again. We should not allow extremists to create an image of Islamophobia.
"We need to unite and address deplorable acts by extremists around the world," he said.
On Friday, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of Danish far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line) had burned the Quran in front of a mosque in Denmark days after he burned a copy of the holy book outside the Turkish Embassy in Sweden.
In another earlier provocation, Edwin Wagensveld, the leader of Islamophobic group Pegida also burned the pages of the holy Quran in The Hague on Jan 22, drawing the wrath of Muslims worldwide.
Malaysia strongly condemned Paludan and Wagensveld's acts.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the country would issue one million copies of the Quran to be distributed around the world as a response to the "insane and impudent" act. - BERNAMA