Mahathir asks Muslim states not to trade in US dollars

[oracle]

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,

"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.

[TigerFan]

He's right guys. But the problem is that muslim leaders are too busy with themselves, they are corrupt and the best part is that they love to lick the *** of west. God that feels good! Anyway, some of u will not able to get the link, so I have posted the full article here. Thanks oracle uncle, ahem, bhai. No harm done.

Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW


Vol. 5 Num 204 Sun. December 19, 2004

Front Page



Mahathir asks Muslim states not to trade in US dollars
Staff Correspondent

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."

Mahathir renewed his earlier proposal of a new joint currency, the Muslim Dinar, that Muslim countries could use to boost trade and economic cooperation among themselves.


Mahathir also warned that China, India, Japan and Korea would be the new powers dominating the world in the future and that these countries may follow "a tendency of the powerful to throw their power around".


He said these nations could take charge and warned that, "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."

He emphasised the need to strengthen the Muslim Ummah. "Blaming the US or Israel will not help us," he said. "Muslim countries would have to unite to develop themselves and that is the only way to save the Ummah."

"Our disunity is the cause of our weaknesses and that is how other countries take advantage of us," he said.


"They (the West) push democracy in our lands because they know we do not understand it. Democracy is a very good system if you know how to work it. However, we have seen that it has weakened a number of our Muslim nations by splitting the polity."

He said the Muslim nations are not exploiting their potential and the rich ones are not helping to develop the poorer Muslim nations.


Mahathir also stressed that Muslim nations needed to put their "houses in order" and should focus more on the material aspects of society which would result in "a greater fulfillment of our potentials and capabilities".


He stressed the importance of education and suggested the creation of 'centres of excellence' at the very best universities in the Muslim world that would allocate scholarships to the cream of Muslim students. He said that this would revive the mastery of knowledge that Muslims had before the 14th century.


Mahathir observed that most of the top scholars in US and European research institutes are of Asian origin and there needs to be a reversal of the 'brain drain'. He said this could happen if Asian countries valued the knowledge of these Muslim scholars not only in monetary terms but also by providing them their freedom of opinion.


He said he was prepared to travel to various Muslim countries and develop a core group that would initiate the union of such Muslim interests.


The eminent personalities at the breakfast meeting was former foreign minister Dr Kamal Hossain, former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hassan Chowdhury, former foreign secretaries Faruk Chowdhury, Mohammad Mohsin and Farook Sobhan (the organiser of the meeting), the Prime Minister's Adviser MM Rezaul Karim, beside other former Bangladeshi envoys and local intellectuals.

He said he was prepared to travel to various Muslim countries and develop a core group that would initiate the union of such Muslim interests.

Anyone have idea about what this group is and what this group's goals are?