GEORGE TOWN, Nov 6 — It is every Muslim’s responsibility to dispel any fear against Islam, instead of allowing the religion to be misunderstood by non-Muslims, state assemblyman Norlela Ariffin (PKR- Penanti) said at the state legislative assembly today.

She said ignorance will only breed hatred and fear among those who do not know or understand the religion.

She said each Muslim must explain what true Islam is to non-Muslims so that they understand the religion instead of fearing it based on hearsay.

"I ask all of you Muslims here, you live in a multiracial community and you create this fear of Islam, how are you going to answer to Allah at Akhirat that you did not do anything to explain about Islam?” she said during her debate of the Supply Bill 2020 at the state legislative assembly today.

She said Muslims must also be open to understanding other religions, especially those who are born Muslims and not exposed to other religions.

"We must understand other religions so that we do not have this fear of other religions,” she said.

She pointed out that Allah created people of different skin colour and different races so that everyone can get to know each other and understand each other.

"How can we understand our neighbours of different races and religion if we do not make an effort to learn about their religion,” she said.

She said it was when Muslims remain ignorant about other communities that controversies can be sparked and they can be easily instigated against other communities.

"We do not want our harmony to be threatened by any politician from either side who use religion to create hatred,” she said.

She explained this was the reason why she organised sessions for Muslims and non-Muslims to understand each others’ religions back in 2015.

"The rural people are not exposed to and some do not understand their neighbours’ faith so these sessions helped them understand other religions,” she said.

Norlela also asked the state government to look into creating new tourism products that focused on the mainland instead of the island.

"I look at all the events by Penang Global Tourism and all of it are on the island, they spent RM7.5 million just for some balloons to go up and down,” she said.

She said there were millions in allocation for tourism and this can be used to develop better tourism products for the state.

"We can promote our unique freshwater wetlands on the mainland and our mangrove swamps,” she said.

She used the Langkawi Geopark as an example of a successful eco-tourism site based on an existing natural environment.

"The Kilim Karst Geoforest Park is one of the biggest eco-tourism hot spots in the region,” she said.

She said the state should not wait for a private company to promote the state’s natural environment as a tourism product.

"Don’t wait for a developer to do it, the state government can do it and when the residents benefit from it, they will have their own income and can put in more resources to improve the sites,” she said.