Mahathir appeals to divided Muslims to unite

Mahathir appeals to divided Muslims to unite

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad appealed on Friday to all Muslims in the country to unite and give up any "wrong" political beliefs.

"We must be willing to make personal sacrifices by giving up wrong ideologies even if they are promoted by our own leaders since such ideologies have divided us," Mahathir was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency in his northern home state of Kedah.

Mahathir expressed regret that some Muslims glorified leaders who, he alleged, were a bad influence.

"Although we have proven such things are not right, they insisted that it was right as it came from their leaders.

"Some also are of the opinion that deviationist teaching preached by certain people is a matter between the preacher and God. As such, they should continue supporting the leader," he said.

Mahathir, who made the appeal in conjunction with Thursday's Eid al-Adha festival, said it was most unfortunate that the annual celebration did not help to unite fellow Muslims.

The festival -- the Feast of the Sacrifice -- marks the end of the annual Haj (pilgrimage) to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Although Mahathir's coalition retained its two-third majority in parliament, his ruling party United Malays National Organization lost 22 seats, mainly to the Islamic based opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), in general elections last November.

This was due to a massive switch of support from Malays who account for slightly more than 50 percent of the country's 22 million people following Mahathir's sacking of his heir apparent Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, currently facing sodomy charges, is serving a six year sentence for corruption after was sacked from the government on Sept. 2, 1998.

PAS also took the eastern oil rich state of Terengganu from UMNO and retained neighboring Kelantan, besides winning the majority of parliamentary seats in Kedah -- Mahathir's home state.

Meantime, bank employees in Malaysia objected on Friday to the government punishing financial institutions which have staff who openly support the opposition.

At least two banks in the southwestern state of Malacca have lost government business because of employees who openly supported the opposition in general elections last November, newspapers reported this week.

Mahathir said on Thursday that some bank staff had posted confidential financial transactions involving government officials and institutions on the Internet to suggest wrong-doing by the government.

He said the only way for the government to act was not to deal with such banks.

Mahathir said on Friday that the central bank, Bank Negara, should decide if it would act against the two banks.

Bernama named the two banks as Bumiputra Commerce Bank and Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. Both banks are controlled by the government.

The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) said on Friday that it agreed that the acts described by the prime minister were irresponsible and unprofessional.

But it said the punishment was too severe. "It's tantamount to punishing all employees and the banks for the malicious actions of a few irresponsible persons with vested interests," NUBE secretary-general G. Gopala Krishnan said in a statement.