Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday urged Muslim countries not to trade in US dollars as it only strengthens the capabilities of the United States to develop and supply arms to Israel that 'they then use to kill Muslims'.
He also urged Muslim countries to put to one side their differences and concentrate on developing their economic potential and argued that democracy has 'weakened' many Muslim countries.
Mahathir was talking at a breakfast meeting organised by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) on "Islam and the West".
"The same dollars that we trade in are being used to develop and supply US arms to Israel that kill Muslims," Mahathir stated. "I've asked Arabs to sell oil in other currencies. If we don't use US dollars, the currency will become useless".
He explained that if the oil and other raw materials possessed by Muslim countries are sold in currencies other than dollars, the dollar would devalue. "If the US is poor it cannot dominate the world
read more in DS..
And an interesting observation,
Quote:
|
"We may escape the Europeans and the US only to find ourselves behind the newer dominating powers. Today the problem may be the US, but tomorrow it may be these countries."
|
Still smarting from the financial crisis which nearly wiped out his currency.
Edited on, December 18, 2004, 9:57 PM GMT, by oracle.