Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who announced this, said that as a modern and progressive Muslim nation, Malaysia was ready to emulate the work of the Raja Fahd Quran Printing Complex in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where there was an integrated effort to print the Koran for Muslims.

'€œI am confident that the time has come for us to print the Koran and become the second largest printer for the region after the Saudis,'€ he said when launching the Al-Quran Mushaf Malaysia Printing Centre at Percetakan National Malaysia Berhad (National Printing Centre, or PNMB) on Monday.

Although the act of printing a book is a straightforward procedure, the printing of the Koran was the opposite.

'€œProper care and a high degree of expertise is required.

'€œThis is very important to avoid misprints as it must be remembered that the Koran contains holy scriptures whose originality is guaranteed,'€ he added.

He commended the Restu Foundation'€™s effort to produce the Koran over the last 20 years which had seen over 700,000 Quran printed for both Malaysians and Muslims worldwide.

The centre is a joint collaboration between PNMB and the Restu Foundation where the entire process of printing the Koran will be carried out by an all-Muslim staff.

Najib also announced a one-off 1,000 ringgit (US$309) bonus for PNMB staff as a token of appreciation of the effort in preparing the print materials for the recent general election.

Also present at the event were Minister in the Prime Minister'€™s Department Jamil Khir Baharom and Second Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan.

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