Mahathir attacks 'state terrorism'

[lubna]

Mahathir attacks 'state terrorism'



The Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused countries he called the "great practitioners of democracy" of "terrorising the world."
Dr Mahathir took care not to name the countries, though in the past he has been a regular and outspoken critic of Israel, the United States and Australia.



The comments were the latest in a string of controversial remarks from Dr Mahathir, who is due to retire from office on 31 October.

A speech last week in which he said Jews "ruled the world" has been widely criticised by Western governments and Jewish groups.

"It would seem that the great exponents and practitioners of democracy believe that the way to spread the doctrine... is by terrorising the world."

Mahathir Mohamad
Malaysian Prime Minister
In his latest speech, made in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, Dr Mahathir criticised states who launched "massive retaliation" for terrorist acts.

"We see states launching massive retaliation, not just to curb suspected terrorists, but his family, his home, his village and his town.

"It would be ridiculous to think that such attacks do not terrorise the innocent.

"It would seem that the great exponents and practitioners of democracy believe that the way to spread the doctrine and to break down resistance is by terrorising the world," he said.

Dr Mahathir, who is due to step down after 22 years in office, seems determined remain controversial to the last.

His recent remark that "Jews rule the world by proxy," brought widespread criticism which he said only proved he was right.


The 78 year old leader has been a frequent critic of Western policies towards developing countries.

During his speech on Wednesday Dr Mahathir also attacked the World Trade Organisation (WTO), whose aim is to liberalise international trade.

"Like the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the WTO is now being made into yet another instrument to enrich the rich and impoverish the poor," he said.



source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3204001.stm

[tbahrain]

Assalamuualaikum sis lubna.

Here's the latest on Mahathir. I will try to post the transcript of his speech.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- Several Western diplomats including from the European Union (EU) on Friday walked out in an apparent protest against criticism by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis by America and Britain due to the sanctions and the war.

Among those seen walking out from the conference hall were British High Commissioner to Malaysia Bruce Cleghorn who were among 300 people who attended a public lecture on human rights delivered by Dr Mahathir.

The incident took place as Dr Mahathir who is known for his harsh criticism on Western countries' double standards on international issues, were criticising and exposing US and British policies in the pre and post occupation Iraq, which Dr Mahathir claimed had resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths of Iraqi innocent civilians, including 500,000 infants prior to the invasion.

"The result of the invasion is that many more people have been killed and injured than Saddam was ever accused of. Worse still, the powers which are supposed to save the Iraqi people have broken international laws on human rights," he said at the event organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

"At the time this was happening where were the people who are concerned with human rights? Did they expose the abuses of Britain and America? Did they protest against their own government? No, it is because they, the enemy are killed. That is acceptable. But their own people must not be killed. To kill them is to commit acts of terror," Dr Mahathir said.

"I was invited by Suhakam to attend the opening of their Human Rights Day conference. I accepted out of respect for Suhakam and for Tun Mahathir as a previous Prime Minister of Malaysia.

"Unfortunately, I found myself listening to abuse and misrepresentations about my country. I therefore left," Cleghorn said in a statement later.

Later speaking to reporters, Dr Mahathir defended his rights to criticise Western countries.

"As much as they have the rights to criticise me, they should give me the rights to criticise them...but if you don't want to hear my criticism of them, then you are denying my rights," he said.

Asked about the comments he made in his speech about US role in Latin and Central America, Dr Mahathir said that countries in that region were very much afraid of the US and the "US exerts power over Latin America as it is its colony." "They can't have an opinion. (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez for example, decides not to be pro-America.You look what kind of treatment he gets.(Cuban President Fidel) Castro for years not recognised and were applied sanctions.

"Of course he is not democrat, he is communist but people should have the freedom to choose whatever system, he said, referring to the two leaders,where many had accused the US of practicing a hostile policy against them.

He also defended his human rights record during his 22-year tenure as the leader of the country.

Dr Mahathir said that people had forgotten that it was he who released 23 detainees under the Internal Security Act (ISA) when he assumed the premier post in 1981, adding that there were still 500 people at that time under ISA but they were not detained by his government but by the previous government.

"You see I hate to use ISA but I have to point out even if you don't use ISA you had to go to the court and they will say you manipulate the courts. There is nothing you do that can be right to the eyes of these people," he said adding that the ISA was still needed to certain extent but must be used very judiciously and sparingly.

While admitting that he condemned newspapers which had reported inaccurately about Malaysia during his time. Dr Mahathir said that there were also a lot of magazines and newspapers which were given licences and their views were tolerated.

[tbahrain]

Assalamualaikum all.

As promised, here's the link to the full text of Tun Dr. Mahathir's speech at the recent Human Rights Commission conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10305.htm

[lubna]

Waalykum assalam respected brother tbahrain

some excerpt from his speech,
Yet the US and UK took it upon themselves to invade Iraq in order to remove an allegedly authoritarian government. The result of the invasion is that many more people have been killed and injured than Saddam was ever accused of. Worse still, the powers which are supposed to save the Iraqi people have broken international laws on human rights, by detaining Iraqis and others and torturing them at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

So can we accept that these big powers alone have a right to determine when to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries to protect human rights?


---

We have gained political independence but for many the minds are still colonised


jazakallah for the link. his speech is brilliant mashaALlah. may Allah protect him from all harms and fitnahs Ameen! and give him more courage and wisdom to speak the TRUTH Ameen!

he is indeed my HERO brother in islam!

may Allah produce a chain reaction to his speech and many more start speaking like him and when truth is said on the global level in the times of universal deciet then revolution i.e islamic rule is sure to come....:) INSHAALLAH!


a thought just crossed my mind, how about me migrating to malaysia.....:)
may Allah gude us all to the truth Ameen.
wassalam
lubna

[tbahrain]

You are most welcome, sis lubna.

We have a saying here 'kecil tapak tangan, niru kami tadahkan'. Translated it means, 'if our palms are small, we offer a large plate' to welcome you.

[lubna]

Jazakallah brother tbahrain for your warm welcome and big hospitality,
now i know that malyasian people are not only brave,honest and good muslims but very hospitable too mashaAllah, which is right as islam teaches us to be extra special to our guests!

malayisa is scoring high points on my list of good countries ,mashalAllah. may ALlah protect it from all harms and fitnahs of the enemies Ameen and make it grow into a strong islamic empire Ameen!



i was trying to read your malay language and picked up the word 'tangan'
does it mean ,narrow,small,tight........ cos we have a word same in urdu 'tang'
which means small and narrow....... have i found yet another common ground between me and you....:)

salam my dear brother, may you live long with the strong eemaan Ameen. as long life in disobedience to Allah is not a blessing but a curse.

your sister
lubna

[tbahrain]

Shukran. sister lubna.

Hope I get that right for thank you if I can remember my Urdu from my stay in Lahore almost 25 years ago.

Tangan = hand. To translate my quote "kecil tapak tangan", kecil = small, tiny; tapak = base; tangan = hand. In this context, tapak tangan = palm of the hand.

The Malay language is derived mostly from Arabic, Urdu, Sunscrit, etc.

Link below is to English - Malay dictionary.

[tbahrain]

Sorry sis lubna.

Here's the link http://www.karyanet.com.my/knet/index.php?tpf=KIMD

[lubna]

yes you are almost right, shukran is in arabic and in urdu it is 'shkriya' which is almost same.
as urdu is a combination of arabic,persian,hindi,sansikrat , pushtu ,english etc.

jazakallah for the link, i will start learning malay when i decide to migrate to malaysia, until then we will keep on using our dear old english, thanks to our colonisers.......:) they have indeed united us through their language....:), though it was'nt their plan but Allah's... Alhumdulillah.