JEDDAH, 9 March 2005 — The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which is undergoing reforms and restructuring, has been gaining prominence, becoming more proactive and expanding its role and objectives in the cause of Islam and Muslims with added emphasis and urgency.
An important issue the organization is trying to work out is observer status. Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has called for a review of rules for granting observer status. He explained in a statement made available to Arab News that certain aspects of the current rules for granting observer states “interlock” with the rules of full membership, since it was theoretically possible for any state with observer status to obtain full membership as well.
The OIC reiterated “profound” concern over the events in southern Thailand that claimed the lives of many people in the province during a meeting with a high-level delegation from Thailand that came to meet Ihsanoglu.
The delegation, led by Nissai Vejjajiva, adviser to the minister of foreign affairs, was sent by the Thai government, which enjoys observer status with the OIC, in response to repeated calls by the organization to work out a solution to the difficulties faced by Muslims in Thailand.
Vejjajiva expressed his country’s readiness for cooperation with the OIC to find ways to improve the condition of Thai Muslims and welcomed the idea of a good offices committee studying conditions in southern Thailand.
The organization has denounced the “strident voices” of the media and “willfully” ignoring the role of the OIC, its member states and charitable institutions in rendering relief assistance to the victims of the tsunami that struck some countries in South and Southeast Asia last December.
The secretary-general rejected claims in a certain section of the media that the OIC was not doing enough. “Whether by design or by ignorance, they are bent on tarnishing the image of Muslims,” he said in a statement.
He said OIC assistance so far had amounted to more than $1.2 billion. Moreover, the OIC Alliance to Rescue Child Victims of Tsunami was being organized by Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkey, Indonesia, the OIC, the Islamic Development Bank and the International Islamic Relief Organization.
