Pope's comments: Stay calm, M'sian told 
Malaysiakini
Sep 22, 2006

Former premier Mahathir Mohamad on Friday urged Muslims to refrain from violent protests over comments by Pope Benedict XVI which have outraged Muslims worldwide.

"You can give your comments but do not be physical about it," Mahathir told reporters.

Asked if Muslim anger over the comments seen as linking Islam with violence was justified, he said: "Not to the point of burning embassies and such."

Protests have been held worldwide since the Pope last week quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said innovations introduced by the Prophet Muhammad were "evil and inhuman."

In response, a hardline cleric linked to Somalia's powerful Islamist movement called for Muslims to "hunt down" and kill the Pope, while an armed Iraqi group threatened attacks on Rome and the Vatican.

In the Palestinian territories, unknown assailants threw Molotov cocktails and a burning tire at two Catholic churches in the northern West Bank. And effigies of the Pope were burned in Iraq and Pakistan.

In a traditional blessing on Sunday, the pope said he was "deeply sorry" that his remarks had caused distress in the Muslim world.

Do more to restore ties

But Mahathir said the Vatican should do more to restore ties with Muslims.

"I think it should do more. It must not point fingers at people," he said without elaborating.

Separately, more than 100 members of opposition PAS held a peaceful protest at a Kuala Lumpur mosque.

The party's youth wing rejected the Pope's expressions of regret.

PAS members, who chanted "God is great!", and waved banners and placards demanding a retraction, said interfaith relations could not progress without a straightforward apology.

"These things can be settled with a simple apology which we have not heard from the Pope's mouth," PAS committee member Hatta Ramli told reporters.

Malaysia's government earlier in the week accepted the Pope's apology after initially describing it as inadequate.