[images and
captions added by this website] THEY
don't blow themselves up for no reason, they're
angry, they're frustrated. And why are they angry?
Look at the Palestinian situation. If you don't
settle that, there will be no end to the war on
terror. For how long are you going to go on
examining people's shoes? London, Friday, May 27, 2005
'Father' of
Malaysia savages Bush and Blair Mahathir
brands US a rogue nation terrorising innocents and
stands by claim that Jews 'rule the world by
proxy' by Simon Tisdall in Kuala
Lumpur MAHATHIR
Mohamad, modern Malaysia's founding father and
moderate Islam's self-styled champion, denounced
the Bush administration yesterday as a "rogue
regime" bent on terrorising innocent civilians. He
also said he was disappointed that Tony
Blair, whom he called a "proven liar", had won
re-election after joining the US invasion of
Iraq. Reflecting the rage felt across the Muslim world
over abuse scandals in Afghanistan and
Guantánamo Bay, and continuing violence in
Palestine and Iraq, Mr Mahathir said President
George Bush and other US politicians were
"ignorant" people who believed might made right - a
return to colonial-era "old thinking". Speaking to the Guardian at his offices
in Putrajaya, near Kuala Lumpur, Mr Mahathir also
claimed that the Israeli government had been given
a free hand by Washington to continue to
expropriate Palestinian land and entrench its
control over Jerusalem. The war on terror would not
end until the Middle East conflict was justly
resolved, he said. Asked whether he regretted his
statement that "Jews rule the world by proxy",
which caused an international furore in 2003, Mr
Mahathir said he took nothing back. "US politicians are
scared stiff of the Jews because anybody who
votes against the Jews will lose elections. The
Jews in America are supporting the Jews in
Israel. Israel and other Jews control the most
powerful nation in the world. And that is what I
mean [about Jews controlling the world].
I stand by that view." On his balcony overlooking the tower blocks,
mosques, bridges and artificial lakes of Putrajaya,
Malaysia's new administrative capital which he
created in the 1990s, Mr Mahathir, 79, cuts a
slight, almost self-effacing figure. His personal
manner is reserved and courteous to a fault. Earlier in the day, he had lectured students at
his Perdana Leadership Foundation on the importance
of education and development in the Muslim world to
defend the Islamic faith. The problem was not Islam
itself, he said, but the many incorrect
interpretations of the Qur'an that were exploited
by extremists. "Islam is a positive, not a negative force.
Today most Muslim countries seem incapable of
developing good governments, they are always
fighting each other, assassinating each other and
doing all the wrong things." Distortions of the
Prophet's teachings had held back the peoples of
many Muslim countries, he said. But Mr Mahathir's strongest criticism was
directed outwards. Even though he retired as
Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister in 2003,
many in the region still regard him as the
country's leader and one of Asia's most influential
voices. His anger is undimmed; his rhetoric flows
unstaunched. "The US is the most powerful nation," he said.
"It can ignore the world if it wants to do
anything. It breaks international law. It arrests
people outside their countries; it charges them
under American law. It kills them. "The US war on terror is a way of
terrorising people. If you are an Iraqi and you
are expecting to be bombed, aren't you
terrified? If you have done nothing, if you are
an innocent Iraqi citizen and you are expecting
any time a rocket to fly in and blow you to
pieces, aren't you terrified?"That is terror [and] the US is as
guilty of terrorism as the people who crashed
their planes into the buildings ... Bush doesn't
understand the rest of the world. He thinks
everybody should be a neocon like him." Mr Mahathir was equally scathing about Israeli
policies in Palestine. He said his visit to the
West Bank last month had been deliberately
disrupted by the Israeli government. Specifically,
he said he was blocked from travelling to Jerusalem
and Jenin, scene of some of the worst Israeli
violence in 2002, where he was to open a school
funded by Malaysia. Israel has denied impeding his
visit. "I suppose I was mistaken in thinking that there
are parts of Palestine that are under the control
of the Palestinians. But apparently the Israelis
have occupied the whole of Palestine. They do
anything they like there," he said.
Mr BLAIR had discredited himself and Britain in
Muslim eyes by backing the Iraq war, Mr Mahathir
said. "He was wrong and he was more wrong because
he tells lies. You know, Jack Straw came to
see me [on the eve of the war in January
2003] and I asked him, 'Why are you with the
Americans?' He said we're trying to influence the
Americans not to take that kind of action. But it
seems it was the other way round. "They [Britain] were influenced
in supporting America to do something that they
knew was wrong ... They knew they were being
lied to, and yet they supported the Americans
and today 300,000 Iraqis are dead because of
these lies."I think a person like Blair would feel very
guilty and I am disappointed that the British
people would re-elect a person who obviously
told lies . . . We're beginning to
lose faith in the present leadership of
Britain." One eventual consequence, he suggested, could be
Malaysia's withdrawal from the Commonwealth. Malaysia, which is encircled by conflicts in
western Indonesia, the Philippines and southern
Thailand, fully supported the fight against
religious and political fanaticism, he said. But
the west was going about it the wrong way. "Even if you get Bin Laden, you can't be
sure there won't be another Bin Laden. You cannot
get terrorists to sign a peace treaty. The only way
to beat terror is to go for the basic causes. "They don't blow themselves up for no reason,
they're angry, they're frustrated. And why are they
angry? Look at the Palestinian situation. Fifty
years after you created the state of Israel, things
are going from bad to worse. "If you don't settle that, there will be no end
to the war on terror. For how long are you going to
go on examining people's shoes?"
- From GP to
PM
- Mahathir Mohamad, 79.
GP turned politician. Malaysian prime minister,
1981-2003.
- Premiership
precis
- Developed Malaysia
into tightly-controlled democracy with moderate
Islamic bent and open market economy. Achieved
through emasculating the judiciary, restricting
media freedoms and stifling virtually all
political dissent, including jailing his deputy
in 1998.
- Now
- Most high-profile of
many roles is adviser to national car company,
Proton, one of the nation's flagship industrial
enterprises. Formally eschews limelight, but
still regarded as influential political
heavyweight.
- Most famous
for
- Slagging off western
nations at every opportunity. Ignoring the
International Monetary Fund during the 1997
Asian financial crisis. After ridiculing his
policies at the time, the IMF has admitted Mr
Mahathir's action proved extremely
effective.
- Bringing Formula One
motor racing to Malaysia.
- Most infamous
for
- Grand, often wasteful,
infrastructure projects. These include the
Petronas towers - until 2003 the world's tallest
buildings - and Putrajaya, a, purpose-built
capital city.
- ----John
Aglionby
. . . on this
website
-
Oct 2003: Contrite, but not very Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says his
comments about Jews were taken out of
context:
"The reaction of the world shows that the Jews
do control the world"- More on Malaysian PM's interesting
theory:
-
Oct 2003: Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has repeated his
claim that Jews rule the world, and accused U.S.
President George W. Bush of lying if he said he
rebuked Mahathir for the comment
-
Oct 2003: Presidents
George Bush and (reluctantly) Jacques Chirac
condemn "Jews rule" remark
-
Oct 2003: Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says Jews rule
the world
- Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says Jews rule
the world
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