Incidentally, in case no one noticed, the OIC meeting here was attended by representatives of the IGC representing Iraq!
kjk
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From The Straits Times, Singapore 21 October 2003
Mahathir remarks widen divide His reference to Jews, a device to prod Muslim leaders to solve their problems, has overshadowed his message By Brendan Pereira
KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's controversial 'Jews rule the world' speech, condemned by United States President George W. Bush and others, was one that he had agonised over for weeks.
He chopped and changed and finally ended up tearing up a draft copy.
The reason - he was worried that his blunt language might offend Muslim leaders.
He wanted to castigate them over their handling of the Palestinian issue and scold them for the quagmire in which the Organisation of Islamic Conference found itself.
But he knew that the clutch of thin-skinned leaders of the Arab world would not take too kindly to a lecture.
So another speech was crafted, one that would sit easy with his audience at the Putrajaya Convention Centre and the rest of the Muslim world.
One of the few parts of the first draft that survived the chop was the reference to Jews.
It was to be a prop in the story of subjugation and the struggle necessary to overcome the odds that he was going to tell, the backdrop to the Muslim world view.
The coverage of his speech by Al-Jazeera, the popular Arab satellite television station, is telling for one reason: it showed that what was highlighted as news in the West was passed over as background information in the Muslim world.
Al-Jazeera's commentary on the speech and the daily round-up of the OIC gathering did not refer to the Malaysian leader's diatribe against the Jews.
Only a day later did the Al-Jazeera correspondent here realise that Dr Mahathir's comments on the Jews had provoked a strong reaction from the United States, the European Union and several other countries.
But even then, he did not think it was necessary to expand too much on the coverage of the issue.
Why?
'What Dr Mahathir said about the Jews are historical facts. It is not news to many of us,' said the correspondent.
Perhaps more surprising to some was the fact that the Premier's views found acceptance in moderate Muslim nations like Indonesia.
There was some surprise in Australian newspapers that Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri joined in a standing ovation for Dr Mahathir after 'he called on Muslims to consider Jews as their enemy'.
Indonesian government spokesman Marty Natalegawa later expressed support for Dr Mahathir's statement and declined to condemn his remarks about Jews ruling the world.
At home, the Malaysian leader's nemesis, Parti Islam SeMalaysia spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, urged his followers to defend Dr Mahathir and said the Premier was spot-on.
It is a sign of the times - how discussions about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have permeated all levels of Muslim society, how it is seen more and more as a symbol of how the non-Muslim world views Islam.
The sharp contrast in reactions in the West to the speech is also striking.
Mr Bush described the remarks as 'wrong and divisive'. His National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice called them 'reprehensible'.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday noted that the 'remarks that everybody had condemned were, in fact, made twice in the speech and that there was also a tone of struggling or fighting against Jews throughout the speech which was part of the problem', an official disclosed.
Well might Dr Mahathir have agonised over this speech.
He may have aimed to stir the Muslim world into action to improve their lot.
Unfortunately, he ended up highlighting - and deepening - the growing rift between the Muslim and the Western worlds.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/
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