October 17 2003

Mahathir tirade at 'Jews ruling world'

Eric Ellis in Singapore

ONE OF ASIA'S longest-serving leaders and scourge of the West, Mahathir Mohamad, used his final appearance on the international stage to deliver a typically acerbic speech yesterday warning his fellow Muslims that Islam had reached a low point while Jews ruled the world.

Addressing the opening session of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the Malaysian Prime Minister said that Israel was "the enemy allied with most powerful nations".

"The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them," he said, "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews."

Dr Mahathir, has said that he will step down after 22 years in office on October 31. It was time to plan a counterattack against the enemies of Islam who treat Muslims with "contempt and dishonour" he said. "We cannot fight them through brawn alone, we must use our brains also."

Dr Mahathir said Muslims must learn from Jews and that the Jewish people had "survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking...(Jews) invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy, so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong; so that they can enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power."

He said Muslims must embrace new tactics. "Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people? It cannot be that there is no other way...we must not antagonise everyone. We must win their hearts and minds."

Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, made a plea to Western Governments to address the grievances of Muslims around the world in a statement that was read to the conference by Lakhdar Brahimi, his special representative to Afghanistan.