Mahathir's ambitions a waste of time
SantikPublished: Feb 18, 2003 11:53 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
Qatar has rejected Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's plan of staging an emergency session of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on the Iraq crisis, and obviously Mahathir is disappointed over the decision.
That should teach Mahathir a lesson in relying too much on Islamic brotherhood. In this modern world, we should learn not to side with anyone merely based on shared religious beliefs, but be fair and just to all based on humanitarian, economic and other valid grounds.
Why should we want to be the 'master' of those who do not want to have peace among themselves? It is known that the OIC members have constantly been fighting among themselves - what makes Mahathir think we can solve their problems?
The Arab countries have all the resources for attaining peace among themselves, but unfortunately they have never been able to do so.
They could never agree among themselves, and whenever they have conflicts, they all run to the World Court. The recent land dispute between Bahrain and Qatar was settled by the World Court, and not by any Arab organisation or the OIC.
Instead of wasting so much public money and time to popularise himself in the Middle East, Mahathir should be working harder to be popular with our neighbours. We still have problems with Singapore, and we are still saddled with the illegal immigration problem.
Maybe we should concentrate more on the economy and not concern ourselves with world politics. We are a small country with limited resources; we cannot solve the world's problems.
What can we achieve by staging the OIC summit meeting? They will only send their representatives to Malaysia for few days, make speeches and then leave.
Neither I do not see much future in Malaysia trying to do business with the Arab countries. We should rather make our mark in our own region, and try to be friendly with our neighbours.
We should try to attract more tourists from every part of the world.
The bottom line is, nobody gives a damn about this organisation (OIC).
Or does Mahathir have some other motive in becoming closer to the Arab countries? Does he have an eye on the secretary-general position in the OIC?
Not a bad position to hold after retirement from domestic politics.
That should teach Mahathir a lesson in relying too much on Islamic brotherhood. In this modern world, we should learn not to side with anyone merely based on shared religious beliefs, but be fair and just to all based on humanitarian, economic and other valid grounds.
Why should we want to be the 'master' of those who do not want to have peace among themselves? It is known that the OIC members have constantly been fighting among themselves - what makes Mahathir think we can solve their problems?
The Arab countries have all the resources for attaining peace among themselves, but unfortunately they have never been able to do so.
They could never agree among themselves, and whenever they have conflicts, they all run to the World Court. The recent land dispute between Bahrain and Qatar was settled by the World Court, and not by any Arab organisation or the OIC.
Instead of wasting so much public money and time to popularise himself in the Middle East, Mahathir should be working harder to be popular with our neighbours. We still have problems with Singapore, and we are still saddled with the illegal immigration problem.
Maybe we should concentrate more on the economy and not concern ourselves with world politics. We are a small country with limited resources; we cannot solve the world's problems.
What can we achieve by staging the OIC summit meeting? They will only send their representatives to Malaysia for few days, make speeches and then leave.
Neither I do not see much future in Malaysia trying to do business with the Arab countries. We should rather make our mark in our own region, and try to be friendly with our neighbours.
We should try to attract more tourists from every part of the world.
The bottom line is, nobody gives a damn about this organisation (OIC).
Or does Mahathir have some other motive in becoming closer to the Arab countries? Does he have an eye on the secretary-general position in the OIC?
Not a bad position to hold after retirement from domestic politics.
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