Mahathir faces complaint

Mahathir faces complaint

NEW YORK (Reuters): The World Jewish Congress said on Friday it would complain to the U.N. Human Rights Commission that recent comments by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad were grotesque and played into stereotypes.

WJC Vice President Kalman Sultanik said he would also seek the support of the Vatican and the World Council of Churches in denouncing the remarks.

"Prime Minister Mahathir sounds like he is speaking in the 1940s, not the 1990s," Sultanik said, adding that the complaint would be brought to the United Nations on Monday because the U.N. five years ago declared anti-Semitism a form of racism and bigotry.

In recent weeks, the prime minister has implied that Jews were behind his country's economic woes. Sultanik said the remarks were "grotesque and played into classic anti-Semitic stereotypes."