Malaysia's PM Says UN Should Not Be Dictated by Israel or U.S.
The Malaysian leader, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and regarded as a leading moderate Muslim in the Islamic world, lambasted the United Nations for its clay feet in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"What then is the meaning of the UN? Collect a lot of money, hold meetings every year, engage in fiery oratory but this matter alone cannot be resolved," the official Bernama news agency quoted Mahathir as telling Parliament.
"This is the problem. It (the UN) looks big but does not have the capacity... everything depends on the superpower," said Mahathir, referring to the United State's support for Israel.
Mahathir has raised the issue in meetings with both President George W. Bush and Pope John Paul 11in the past month.
There "Is no justice in the world at present. What exists is might. He who is strong will wield power," he said.
Mahathir said the UN should dispatch an international peacekeeping force to separate the warring parties and support the peace proposal initiated by Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported.
"Unfortunately we see that the UN has clay feet, has no stand," he said, mocking the United Nations' failure to send a team to investigate allegations that Israeli forces had carried out a massacre at the West Bank town of Jenin.
Mahathir, who seeks the diplomatic isolation of Israel, reiterated any violence targeting civilians was an act of terrorism.
Mahathir also said Malaysia is an Islamic fundamentalist state as its policy is to abide by the fundamental teachings of Islam.
Mahathir told Parliament he had "shocked" Western leaders with this explanation during recent visits to the United States and Europe.
"When I said this they were shocked because they considered a fundamentalist as someone who is violent and did all kinds of bad things, but to me it is not.
"If we hold to the fundamentals of Islam, we will not become bad as Islam exhorts us to be on good brotherly terms, united, do good things and hence it is not wrong to be an Islamic fundamentalist," he said.
Mahathir said when he explained his stance to the Western leaders, they agreed that their use of the word "fundamentalist" had been inaccurate.
The prime minister, who has this year met U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Pope John Paul II among others, said many leaders had shown an interest in knowing more about Islam after the September 11 attacks on the U.S., AFP reported.