MAHATHIR: MALAYSIA SHOULD ORGANISE SUPPLY SHIPS FOR GAZA

SUBANG (Malaysia), Jan 12 (Bernama) -- Malaysia should organise supply ships
containing food, medicine, blankets and other necessities with other countries
for the war-torn victims of Gaza.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said although it was admirable
that the country was sending aid through Mercy and other organisations, the
scale was not sufficient.

"Their hospitals have been bombed, and people are deprived of food and
medicine.

"Malaysia should initiate this special effort to send more supplies via
ships because Palestine's neighbours like Egypt and Jordan will not allow such
supplies to go through their territory," said Dr Mahathir after giving a lecture
on Global Peace at Taylor's College, here, Monday.

Dr Mahathir said ships not carrying weapons travelling in international
waters could not be attacked or sunk as such an act was criminal in
nature.

He also suggested that the United Nations veto system be revamped in order
to have more balance within the General Assembly and Security Council.

"The best thing is not to have the veto system at all. But since the big
powers believe they should have more rights than others, we should give them
that right by stipulating a condition.

"If only one veto is used against a resolution by a permanent member, it
should not be valid. Instead, only a veto supported by two to three permanent
members and two to three non-permanent members should be considered valid.

"This is only an idea. I don't know whether it will work or not," said Dr
Mahathir.

He then called Israel a terrorist state via the definition that the entire
Israeli army was terrorising the people of Gaza.

"If you take the definition of terrorism as the feeling of fear being
terrified by anything, whoever inflicts that fear is a terrorist. Today, we know
that the people of Gaza are terrified by the idea of being killed by the Israeli
army.

"The fact that this is a nation that goes about killing people doesn't make
any difference. The same goes with terrorist suicide bombers where people are
terrified of being blown up," he said.

In his lecture, Dr Mahathir suggested that the world cripple the United
States dollar by refusing to trade products in US currency in order to ensure
that the US would not be able to field an overpowered military force.

"The United States have the highest double digit deficit in the world. Yet
they have the money to spend on their military. This is because we lend them
money when we buy their bonds and we use their currency.

"If we stop using their currency, the USD will drop sharply," explained Dr
Mahathir whose argument was also supported by Dr Chandra Muzaffar in the
latter's lecture on Gaza at the International Islamic University last Friday.

Dr Mahathir also reiterated his idea to criminalise war, arguing that
currently "everyone sees war as something normal when two nations disagree
instead of something to be reviled".

"In the old days, slavery was considered normal. Nowadays, slavery is
outlawed, people are revolted by slavery. In order for this to happen, it will
take time.

"The same goes for war. We must implant the idea that war, for whatever
reason, is wrong and we should criminalise it," he said.
-- BERNAMA