Mahathir berates religious studies and free speech

Mahathir berates religious studies and free speech

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad chided Muslims for weakness in global affairs on Tuesday, saying too much emphasis on religious studies has led to world where Muslims are no longer feared by their enemies.

Mahathir also criticized using the excuse of freedom of speech to urge murder, saying that he had read one Internet posting that called on people to kill him and claimed that he had insulted the Prophet Muhammad, the 7th century founder of Islam.

"This is press freedom," Mahathir was quoted as saying by the national news agency Bernama. "It means you do anything that you like, you tell lies, you accuse people, you urge people to kill each other. We don't like that kind of press freedom."

The premier was asked about his comments on Monday that Malaysia may amend legal controls over the local media to make them more effective.

"I just received (messages) on the Internet urging people to kill me... so next of course they will ask people to throw bombs and all that," he told a press conference.

In an apparent joking remark, he told the reporter from Internet newspaper Malaysiakini who posed the question: "We are going to get rid of Malaysiakini.com."

Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also deputy premier, told AFP the government would study existing legislation before deciding whether to amend it.

"What we are saying is that we have to take a look at the laws based on developments in the media and the Internet. What is going to be the outcome, I do not know yet," he added.

Mahathir also blasted the Western media on Monday for what he called biased and inaccurate reporting.

Speaking at the opening of an Islamic university, Mahathir took a swipe as his Muslim fundamentalist political opponents, saying Muslim students have been made to feel as though studying anything besides religious ritual is unIslamic.

Well-being

Muslims should study anything that would lead to the well- being of Muslims and expand their freedom against their enemies, Mahathir said.

"Horses and swords and bows and arrows were sufficient in the days of the Prophet," Mahathir was quoted as saying.

"Today, we need guns and tanks, fighter planes and warships and a host of other sophisticated weapons in order to deter the enemy and defend ourselves," Mahathir said.

"But we are dependent on others, including those who look upon the Muslims as their enemies, to supply us with these defense requirements," Mahathir said. "We are not putting fear in the hearts of anyone and are certainly unable to defend ourselves effectively."

Over the past 20 years, Mahathir has built his nation into one of the most prosperous in Southeast Asia, but faces a growing political challenge from Islamic fundamentalists who chipped away at his ethnic Malay Muslim powerbase in the 1999 general elections.

Mahathir said that there seemed to be no possibility that a Muslim country would emerge as a world power in the foreseeable future.

Only a handful of Muslim countries are conversant with the process of globalization and many had entered the World Trade Organization with no real idea what their obligations would be, Mahathir said.

The Malaysian leader has been a constant critic of globalization and the Geneva-based WTO, which he contends will increase the power of already wealth nations over developing ones.