[lbo-talk] Mahathir's Party Hands Out Anti-Semitic Books

[Grant Lee]

Mahathir's Party Hands Out Anti-Semitic Books
Sat June 21, 2003 09:15 AM ET
By Simon Cameron-Moore
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Officials of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad's party gave out copies of U.S. industrialist Henry Ford's
anti-semitic book "The International Jew" to delegates at their annual
assembly on Saturday.
The 77-year-old Mahathir, who steps down in October after 22 years of rule,
told a news conference afterwards that the distribution of the book was
nothing to do with him.
"I don't need that book to tell me what is right and what is wrong. I'm not
responsible for the distribution," said Mahathir, who had earlier basked in
the adulation of his party faithful.
Tens of thousands of Muslim Malays attended the last day of the three-day
United Malays National Organization (UMNO) assembly to see Mahathir deliver
his final speech as party president.
Party workers at the assembly's secretariat handed out free copies of an
abridged version of Ford's book, translated into Bahasa Malay and published
in Johannesburg.
The book, first published in the 1920s, also contained the "Protocols of the
Elders of Zion" -- originally published in Russia in the early 20th century
and used down the decades to peddle theories of an international Jewish
conspiracy.
Mahathir said he had read the book years ago, but was not influenced by it,
adding that it was the injustice of the West handing Palestinian land to the
Jews which upset him.

 http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=2966130