Last Tuesday, a Palestine suicide bomber blew himself up, killing 15 Israelis in the heart of Tel Aviv. Most of the victims were middle-age civilians. The murderer's timing could not be more wrong.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, now trying to find a way for peaceful solutions, condemned the attack while his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon is seeking ways to retaliate it. The tension is still very high in the Middle East.

On the same day in Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in an international forum openly lambasted Muslims and their leaders for failing to stop fighting among themselves.

"To be very crude the fate of Muslims today is of their own making. It is not ordained but it is basically they ignore the true teachings of Islam, the injunctions of the Al-Quran and the guidance of true Hadith. They quote the Quran often enough but only to explain away their wrong deeds.

"They can even explain why they as Muslims deny that all Muslims are brothers as taught by Islam. And having declared certain Muslims are apostates they then kill these Muslims in the name of Islam. The result is that more Muslims are killed by brother Muslims than by the infidel enemies of Islam."

Such was his strong reprimand against Muslim countries, especially the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) for being weak and incapable of protecting themselves and their countries.

And Mahathir did not make such a remark at a local Umno gathering but rather in front of 42 OIC Ministers of Endowment and Islamic Affairs. They even included his keynote address as an official document for their Kuala Lumpur declaration.

The ministers also agreed to emulate Malaysia's comprehensive approach in handling issues relating to religious terrorism.

Popularity surge

While his critics may refuse to accept the reality, this week's events have proven that the prime minister's popularity surged not only among many Malaysians but also the global Muslim community.

Regionally, Malaysia has signed a pact to fight terrorism with the Philippines and Indonesia this week. To the global community, especially the West, that means Malaysia has taken stern actions to curtail terrorism, despite resorting to strong-arm tactics too.

To strengthen his commitment to war against terrorism, Mahathir declined to interfere with the Indonesian court's decision to impose death sentence on Malaysian Taufik Abdul Halim, found guilty of bombing a shopping mall in Jakarta August last year.

The prime minister was quoted as saying that he could not "interfere in the due process of law in other countries even when it involved Malaysian lawbreakers", adding that "like Malaysia, other countries too did not like others to interfere in the enforcement of their laws."

A day earlier, another suicide bomber murdered more civilians. This time it was not in either Israel or Palestine. In was in Pakistan that a car bomb in Karachi exploded and killed 12 French nationals and three Pakistanis.

The murderous attacks on civilians were not new in Pakistan. Early this year, Muslim terrorists kidnapped and later executed Asian Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. If that was not enough, a church was bombed in Islamabad, killing five people, including the wife and daughter of an American diplomat.

All these are happened in a country claiming to be an Islamic republic, practising the Islamic syariah laws.

And yet fundamentalists of all sorts in Malaysia have been condemning Mahathir's views on Islam, calling him names ranging from hypocrite to apostate to infidel, ever since he introduced the concept of Islamisation after taking over the leadership of the country in 1981.

Mahathir's night

But the real surprise came on Wednesday; Mahathir accepted the invitation by a local religious group to be on the same platform with archenemy PAS leader Fadzil Noor, to discuss the Palestinian issue.

While Fadzil spent almost an hour re-telling the history of Israel-Palestinian conflict, Dr Mahathir stole the show by declaring that while both Umno and PAS are political enemies, the Palestinian issue had brought them together. And for the first time, both leaders were shown live on TV.

"We can have disagreements on other issues, but on Israel and Ariel Sharon, we cannot afford to disagree because they are our common enemy. They are enemies to all Muslims."

Standing on a united anti-Israeli platform with Islamist PAS, the prime minister said: "Our strategies may differ but we are fighting for the same cause.

"I may not agree with Fadzil's strategy, and he may not with mine, but most importantly we are fighting for the same cause. I don't see how we can have differences over this issue."

But the greatest coup for Mahathir was to bring PAS leaders to agree with his strategy of diplomacy and deception.

It echoes Sun Tzu's definition  when he is strong, avoid him, when his forces are united, divide them. Attack when he is unprepared; appear where you are least expected".

The prime minister made his plans clear — convince Europe not to support Israel, continue lobby against Israel and provide direct help to Palestinians in whatever forms, especially food, medicine and shelter. The aim was to ostracise Israel.

Thus, pro-PLO Mahathir won the first round 'debate' with PAS in bringing the pro-Hamas Fadzil to its fold.

Judging by the support given to Mahathir on Wednesday night, it should not be surprising if PAS would try to play down the issue. PAS' greatest victory was for its president to be shown giving a speech live on TV but the price to pay was high.

The next step for Mahathir is to meet US President George W Bush to convey his message. His critics may even ignore this upcoming event, but Malaysia's serious stand on terrorism has gained respect from the West.

Best definition

Despite Mahathir's fierce rhetoric against the West, he has made clear his stand on terrorism.

For example when describing suicide bombings, he said:"'Until when are we going to continue blowing ourselves up? Yes, we die as martyrs, but we die without achieving any real objectives."

During an OIC ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur early last month, Dr Mahathir proposed the definition on terrorism, which includes any attack against civilians, should be condemned as an act of terror.

Some Muslim leaders rejected his view but as of today, his definition is still the best that any person could come up with.

Within a week, the Prime Minister has emerged as a champion for the Muslim community, and with this credential, he is meeting Bush. Whatever may be said at the meeting, Dr Mahathir will surely come back triumphantly, much to the chagrin of his critics.

The critics, especially the opposition parties are still trying to find ways to discredit the prime minister. But they too are embroiled with problems.

DAP, still lacking credible issues, is still harping on the number game, from the tragedy of 911 to the non-event of 929 (Sept 29 last year when Mahathir declared Malaysia an Islamic state).

PAS is trying to recover from the shock of Wednesday night while its other leaders are preparing to curtail more fundamental liberties in Kelantan and Terengganu.

And nowadays, not much was heard from Anwar Ibrahim's Parti Keadilan Nasional and the grand old Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

WAN HAMIDI HAMID ialah seorang wartawan bebas yang mempunyai pengalaman dalam bidang kewartawanan menjangkau 15 tahun. Beliau pernah berkhidmat di Berita Harian, The Star, The Sun dan Straits Times (Singapura).