Mahathir's description of the impending US attack on Iraq as evidence of
a war being waged by the West against Muslims has upset non-Muslim
Malaysians who strongly oppose US war against Iraq
Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang
(Petaling Jaya,
Monday): The Prime Minister, Datuk
Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said at the opening of the inaugural Non-Aligned
Movement Business Forum yesterday that the imminent attack on Iraq was
evidence of a war being waged by the West against Muslims.
He said the impending war on Iraq and the failure to act against North
Korea, which had admitted to possessing weapons of mass destruction, showed
that the West was against Muslims.
In a front-page coverage, New Straits Times said Mahathir was "speaking
boldly and candidly" on the Iraqi question.
Mahathir's description of the impending US attack on Iraq as evidence of a
war being waged by the West against Muslims has upset non-Muslim Malaysians
who strongly oppose any US-led unilateral war against Iraq, not because it
is a war against Muslims but a threat to international law and order by a
hegemonic hyperpower defying international public opinion and United Nations
Security Council by unilaterally going to war against Iraq.
If the second Gulf War is reduced into a war by the West against Muslims,
what then is the position of the non-Muslim Malaysians or indeed the tens of
millions of people in the West who had demonstrated two weekends ago in over
600 towns and cities worldwide against any US unilateral war against Iraq
without UN sanctions?
Mahathir should be sensitive to speak as the Prime Minister of a
multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysian nation and voice out the views of
all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, and not just as a leader of
Muslims.
Mahathir's description of the impending war in Iraq, for instance, is one
which cannot find a resonance among Malaysians which cut across race and
religion, but upsets non-Muslims because they do not agree with such an
outlook although they are strongly opposed to any US unilateral war against
Iraq without United Nations sanctions.
Mahathir should be more careful in his pronouncements which could only
divide instead of uniting Malaysians who are otherwise already on a common
ground in their opposition to US unilateral war on Iraq
(24/2/2003)
*
Lim Kit Siang, DAP National
Chairman
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http://dapmalaysia.org