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.