PUTRAJAYA, Nov 21 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said Malaysia must preserve its culture and identity while learning to embrace technology and knowledge that western countries have in abundance.

Dr Mahathir said many of the country’s Muslims are attracted to and following western cultures, which has led to eroded family and cultural values in the country among Muslims.

The prime minister was speaking at the soft launch of the Kuala Lumpur Summit at Perdana Leadership Foundation here today.

The Kuala Lumpur summit scheduled to be held from December 18 to December 21 this year is an international platform for dialogue, bringing together Muslim leaders, thinkers, intellectuals and scholars to find the best dynamic and action driven solutions for problems faced by Muslims in the Muslim World.

In his speech, Dr Mahathir said: “We must learn to know our own culture and to preserve it for it is no inferior to other cultures. We must know our own identity and be proud of it.”

He described same-sex marriage as something that does not respect family values.

“It is no longer about a man and a woman marrying and bringing children to form a family.

“Today, marriage is not respected. There could even be marriage between men and men, women and women and there will be no offspring... but adoptions of other people’s offspring that would be regarded as legitimate and part of a family,” he said. 

To-date there has been no active call by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community here to legalise same sex marriages in the country. 

The Summit is a joint effort by Malaysia, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan and will bring together the best minds for multi-faceted dialogues exclusively by Muslims.

Dr Mahathir also announced that Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamim Al-Thani, Turkey President Recep Tayyib Erdogan and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will attend the event.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2019/11/21/dr-m-malaysia-must-protect-its-culture-while-embracing-western-technology-a/1812117