The best solution to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear capabilities is for the whole of this region to declare and uphold a commitment to be free from nuclear weapons, said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

"Like what we have done in Southeast Asia ... established a South-east Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) under the ASEAN Zone of Peace Freedom and Neutrality Declaration" signed in Kuala Lumpur way back in 1971.

"But then you have to bring Isreal into the picture. Hence there is a need for a lot of confidence-building measures," Syed Hamid told Gulf Times in an interview at the opening of the US-Islamic World Forum.

Stating Malaysia’s support for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, Syed Hamid stressed that the controversy over Iran must be solved via diplomatic channels.

"We don’t want any more conflicts in the region," he said.

In his opening address earlier, on saturday Syed Hamid Albar said that before a bridge of understanding between the Muslim Ummah and the West can be built, both parties must first establish a solid foundation based on knowledge and tolerance.

In today’s borderless world, "the profound technological advances have created a level of unprecedented interdependency," Syed Hamid Albar told the US-Islamic World Forum.

Hence the importance of knowledge and education to control the Hobbesian instinct to act in self interest.

"If nations behave as the Hobbesian political animals and act purely with self interest, then the result must be anarchy and chaos," Syed Hamid said.

By the same token, freedom cannot be viewed as something infinite or absolute.

"To put in simple terms, you are free to stretch your arm, but when it touches the nose of another, then that freedom ends," he said, referring to the controversy over the Danish caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.