Amidst the various conflicts going on in the world, with the ongoing genocide in Palestine being at the forefront, the International Interfaith Peace Conference (IIPC) 2025 came like a breath of fresh air to instil hope for a better world. The IIPC was held for the fourth year in a row in Malaysia, and for the first time outside of Kuala Lumpur, at Bahang Bay Hotel, Penang on 13 and 14 September 2025.
The conference with the theme ‘Embracing Multicultural and Multireligious Unity Towards Peace and Harmony in a Troubled World: Possible Solutions’ was officiated by YAB Chow Kon Yeow, the Chief Minister of Penang. In his officiating address, the Chief Minister stressed on the fundamentals in achieving lasting peace and harmony such as justice, care of the poor and marginalised, rejection of prejudice and hatred, the rule of law and institutional accountability.
Prior to that, in his opening address, conference chairman Hj Ir Jamaludin Shamsudin highlighted the failing western narrative of world order which has resulted in endless wars, widening inequality, environmental destruction, and moral decline. He proposed the Madani concept as an alternative which calls for society to be built on fairness, protecting the vulnerable, honouring every faith and culture and pursuing prosperity without abandoning ethics.
In the first keynote address, H.E. Prof. Ibrahim Saleh Al-Naimi from Qatar shared Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue’s (DICID) perspective on the shared mission to foster peace, tolerance and cooperation in a world facing profound challenges. He urged all participants to translate dialogue into meaningful, lasting action.
Dato’ Dr Abdul Razak Ahmad, Special Representative of the Foreign Minister on Peace Building and Countering Islamophobia, focussed on building peace and harmony in Malaysia and ASEAN in the second keynote address and spoke about the key challenges in this region.
The conference proceeded with the first plenary session entitled ‘Imagine a World of Peace and Harmony: Is it a dream?’ moderated by Dr. Mohd Farid Mohd Shahran from the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM). The four panellists from various backgrounds unanimously supported the idea that peace and harmony is not merely a dream but starts with a dream or visualisation. This dream has to be translated into action through field work. The barriers to peace and harmony such as weaponisation of religion, misinformation, abject poverty must be addressed and justice, compassion, dialogue and education must be promoted.
The second plenary session entitled ‘Engagement, spirituality and acceptance – a possible remedy to building shared prosperity?’ was moderated by Mr. Haniff Abdul Razak from Toowoomba, Brisbane, Australia. In line with the topic, there was more focus on approaching peace and harmony from the perspective of spirituality, the right education and the correct use of technology by the four panellists in this session.
The second day of the conference started with four thought-provoking presentations based on the theme ‘Achieving Peace and Harmony, by Avoiding a Zero-Sum Game in a Troubled World’. This was followed by a Youth Forum entitled ‘Celebrating Diversity and Sharing Prosperity through Youth Empowerment in an AI-driven Society’ with four young panellists who shared their perspectives on how the youth could contribute to peace and harmony via social media and artificial intelligence (AI). The final session was a Youth Dialogue with two icons, YB Joshua Woo, a State Assemblyman in Penang and Shaikha Ghanim from DICID Qatar. They expressed their views and shared their experiences on their respective journeys from youth to iconic status as universal peacemakers.
