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.