Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said continuous efforts needed to legislate war as a crime

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) - Former Malaysian prime minister Dr
Mahathir Mohamad wants continuous efforts to legislate war as a crime, noting
that the people have a role to play in making this a reality.

He said that in the course of this effort, the people, especially those
living in democratic countries, must insist that candidates for elections
promise to legislate against war.

"Failure to make the promise would result in support being withdrawn and the
candidate in elections to the supreme law-making body would lose," he said.

Dr Mahathir, who is also Perdana Global Peace Organisation chairman, said
this when delivering his keynote address, 'Criminalisation of War', at the
International Humanitarian Conference held in the International Islamic
University near here Thursday.

He said that to criminalise war, law-making institutions of all nations
must also be willing to legislate against war.

"The way to criminalise war is to have the legislative bodies of nations to
classify war as a crime," he said.

Citing Japan, he said the nation, which suffered terribly after the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had legislated against war after the Second
World War.

On the other hand, he said, the people should also be made aware of the vast
amount of public money spent on maintaining a standing army, on research,
development and production of weapons.

He said constant and sustained discussions and publicity on the horrors of
war and the waste of public funds should convince the electorate that they
should agitate against war and demand their representatives in the congress or
parliament legislate against war.

When making war a crime, the stateman also suggested ways to resolve
conflicts between nations.

He said conflicting nations could resort to negotiations, assisted by the
United Nations as an international body or any other country that was not
directly involved in the conflict.

If that failed, he said, the dispute could be put up for arbitration by a
neutral panel or tribunal where both parties must be agreeable to arbitration
and prepared to accept the decision of the arbitrators.

And should both fail, then the conflict must be solved by placing the case
before a special court of law for judgement, he added.

"If we have these solutions for solving conflicts, then it would be possible
and practical to make war a crime."

Meanwhile, when answering a question from the floor, Dr Mahathir said
Malaysia would continue to advocate for peace and make war a crime, as it was
also in compliance with the Islamic teaching.

He said Malaysia's efforts also received recognition from many quarters,
including international communities.

On another question, he said Muslim countries were often victimised in war
because they allowed themselved to become weak and dependent on others.

He added Muslim countries also failed to be strong and defend themselves
because they had neglected the knowledge to research and develop their own
weapons.

"One of the duties of the Muslims, of course, is to build the capacity to
defend ourselves. We are dependent upon others for our weapons. Do you believe
our enemy will supply us with the weapons to defeat them? I don't think that is
logical," he said.
-- BERNAMA