India-Asean meet: Foreign ministers informally discuss prophet row with India

The controversy created over remarks on The Prophet is understood to have figured in the India-ASEAN Foreign Ministers with Singapore’s Foreign Minister describing the issue as “a delicate subject” and stating that the issue was discussed at the meeting informally.

“Let me just reflect views from a Singapore perspective. I think this episode is another stark reminder why we need to be so careful and why we need to strongly reject hate speech, incendiary speech, speech which incites or aggravates, or causes insult or division within societies,” said Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told
reporters here.


“And this is just another reminder and is an affirmation for why we take such a strict approach to this in Singapore.”

“And so long as we remember that and treat each other with respect, we can live and let live, in fact, we can live well as a cohesive, multiracial, multi-religious, multilingual society. That's the key lesson that we need to bear in mind.”

Indonesian FM Retno Marsudi addressing the Special ASEAN – India Foreign Ministers Meeting #SAIFMM in New Delhi (16/06) underlined the importance of tolerance in today’s multicultural society. This is significant amid recent controversy over the remarks on The Prophet.

While the Indonesian government was milder in its reaction compared to Qatar or Kuwait, it had expressed its concerns with Indian envoy in Jakarta last week.

The Malaysian Foreign Minister is also understood to have expressed similar views at the meeting. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers