As became apparent during the recent Asia-Europe Meeting's (Asem) second Interfaith Dialogue in Larnaca, Cyprus, it's because the issue of religion is often intertwined with others, including politics, human rights, press freedom and more.

Half a dozen or so recommendations were vetoed by some Asian countries after two day of meetings and recommendations, and no explanations were given as to why. Delegates from Europe and even some Asian delegates questioned the transparency of the whole drafting and adopting process of the so-called Larnaca Action Plan on Interfaith Understanding and Cooperation for a Peaceful World on July 5.

In fact, they were outraged.

"They can't handle contradictions in discussion," complained the head of the Belgian delegation, Thomas Antoine, who strongly protested during the ending plenary session but to no avail. Antoine told me later that the process was "neither open nor transparent" and he would be reporting to his government about "the usefulness of this exercise", adding that perhaps precious taxpayers' money from his country had been wasted.

"It's better to have no paper at all than this kind of thing," he added.

The list of recommendations that were vetoed makes for interesting reading and includes suggestions that all Asem member states should pledge to protect journalists writing about religious affairs and that mapping of the status of religious education and the status of all religious groups should be carried out.

Though lacking conclusive proof, sources pointed to one major East Asian power as being responsible for most, if not all, the vetoing during the drafting process.

The country, sources said, has problem with human rights, religious minorities whom they brand as "cult" members and currently detains dozens of journalists.

And instead of trying to provide a frank explanation as to why many recommendations simply disappeared from the final action plan, the Cypriot host who chaired the ending plenary session stuck to her text which ended with this: "I hope you have enjoyed your stay in Cyprus!".

"Unbelievable," fumed another delegate, Richard Stone, from the United Kingdom's delegation. "What a waste of money. There's nothing new in it."

As for staff of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASLEF), the only permanent body within the Asem process, they managed to still be optimistic. One of the senior staff said one could look at the incident as either a glass half full or half empty.

Perhaps it's a bit of both as frank discussions were made during one of the three workshops on the role of the media in promoting interfaith dialogue and the Journalist Colloquium that preceded it. There people more often than not laid their cards wide open on the table.

In a world where discussions about Islam are highly sensitive, one female Southeast Asian journalist, who was part of her government's delegation, suggested that the media and everyone should be more "responsible" by exercising self-restraint, or rather self-censorship, as this writer understood. "What we say must be beneficial, spoken at the right time, with gentle words, and with a mind of goodwill. Here are some rules: If it is true but not beneficial and is hurtful to others, don't say it. If it is true, acceptable to others but is not beneficial, don't say it," she told the workshop.

In a globalised world, whether you stand for the so-called restraint of self-expression and press freedoms, or advocate the exercise of absolute freedom of the press in the search for the truth, one must understand that the world we live in today is one of competing values, where perhaps some form of compromise or respect and sensitivity toward others is needed.

Take last year's violence following the publication of controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, for example.

The paper's foreign editor, who happened to be participating in the journalists colloquium, insisted the paper did not break any Danish laws and in fact the paper had won a European Union award on news for social integration in Europe a few months earlier.

He and a few other journalists added that if they're to avoid touching "taboo" issues from all faiths and all governments, there might very well be nothing worthy to write about.

However, there can be no denying that the impact of that paper was not confined to Denmark's national border, as it later became apparent.

While there's no easy answer, reflection on the part of journalists is much needed.

Many journalists and members of societies who are not "religious" often think they're without faith.

People like McGarry who said he lost his faith in Christianity some years back, however, said that journalism is his new "faith".

Others who think they're secular often have faith as well. They may have faith in science, in the ability of rational thinking to explain everything, faith in progress, faith in democracy, or in freedom of expression and so on.

In a world of many religious and secular faiths, it would be good for people to be mindful of their faith and that of other people because world peace depends on all of us having faith in peace.

Pravit Rojanaphruk was a participant at the recent Journalist Colloquium in Larnaca, Cyprus, organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation, and later attended Asem's Larnaca Interfaith Dialogue, co-hosted by Cyprus and Malaysia.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

LARNACA, CYPRUS