Free Republic

The power of Malaysians' rejection of Islamist militancy lies in the exercise of free choice. On the face of it, an election that overwhelmingly returns a government for the 11th time in a row is not an advertisement for democracy, particularly when one man led the nation for 22 years. Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad handed over the prime ministership only last November to Abdullah Badawi, whose decision to call an election nine months early has produced a return of 195 out of 219 parliamentary seats. That could be taken to suggest nothing much has changed in Malaysia. This election, though, was...

<p>March 19, 2004 -- A week after boasting he had the support of unnamed world leaders, John Kerry released a message yesterday to any more who want to back him for president - please don't.</p> <p>The plea came after he got the support of the notorious anti-Semitic former leader of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, and the incoming Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez.</p>

<p>At least one foreign leader has emerged to support Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid – but Kerry would prefer if this one had kept his support to himself.</p> <p>Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, whose anti-Semitic tirade last year was personally rebuked by President Bush, says he's behind Kerry.</p>

It was okay when John sKerry could say that foreign leaders supported him over President Bush, because it suited his political purpose. Now that one of these "foreign leaders" have stepped forward, Senator Flip-Flop is singing a different tune. Sounds like a familiar refrain, doesn't it? What a phony. Yesterday, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, an avowed anti-Semite, said that he was endorsing John Kerry for president of the United States. It took all of the three seconds for the Kerry campaign to issue a statement rejecting the endorsement, and saying this: "It is simply not appropriate...

As well all know, Kerry has said orign leaders are telling him behind closed doors that they hope he wins the presidency. As a result, many foreign leader are coming out of the closet to support Kerry. Just yesterday, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian who was shot while campaigning on the day before Taiwan's presidential election, has come out for Kerry. Chen Shui-bian said from his hospital bed, " I support John Kerry because he will ban all guns from America. That is a good thing, " he said clutching his wounds. Post here your news about foreign leaders who have...

<p>WASHINGTON — He may have not been one of the foreign leaders with whom John Kerry (search) spoke about his presidential candidacy, but former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (search) endorsed Kerry anyway on Thursday.</p> <p>The former prime minister, who made headlines in October for saying at an Islamic Summit Conference that "the Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews," said Kerry would keep the world safer than President Bush.</p>

From Drudge: Kerry Foreign Policy Advisor Rand Beers issued the following statement today: '...It is simply not appropriate for any foreign leader to endorse a candidate in America's presidential election. John Kerry does not seek, and will not accept, any such endorsements'... Statement from Kerry Foreign Policy Advisor Rand Beers on the former Malaysian Prime Minister Washington, DC – Kerry Foreign Policy Advisor Rand Beers issued the following statement today: “John Kerry rejects any association with former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an avowed anti-Semite whose views are totally deplorable. The world needs leaders who seek to bring people together,...

Mahathir Mohamad, who as Malaysia's soft-on-terrorism prime minister last year urged fellow Muslim leaders to achieve a "final victory" over the Jews who "rule the world by proxy," today endorsed Kerry's effort to defeat President Bush....

It turns out that Spain's new soft-on-terror socialist leader, the Arab propagandists of Al Jazeera and the cowardly French aren't the only dubious foreign supporters of John Kerry's presidential campaign. Mahathir Mohamad, who as Malaysia's soft-on-terrorism prime minister last year urged fellow Muslim leaders to achieve a "final victory" over the Jews who "rule the world by proxy," today endorsed Kerry's effort to defeat President Bush. "I think Kerry would be much more willing to listen to the voices of people and of the rest of the world," Mahathir, who retired in October after 22 years in power, told the...

<p>PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) -- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad endorsed Democratic contender John Kerry in the U.S. presidential race Thursday, saying he would keep the world safer than President Bush.</p> <p>"I think Kerry would be much more willing to listen to the voices of people and of the rest of the world," Mahathir, who retired in October after 22 years in power, told The Associated Press in an interview.</p>

Mar 18, 8:41 AM EST Ex-Leader Says Malaysia Halted Shipment By JASBANT SINGH Associated Press Writer PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) -- The United States asked Malaysia to halt a shipment of suspected nuclear parts in the 1990s, years before a local company was linked to a network that supplied Libya, Iran and North Korea with weapons-making technology, Malaysia's former leader said Thursday. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told The Associated Press in an interview that Malaysia stopped one shipment years ago of stainless steel pipes at Washington's request. "We didn't know where they were headed," Mahathir told The AP. "They didn't...

Mahathir Mohammed, 73, who turned Malaysia into an economic tiger, voluntarily left office in October last year. But he is still a man of novel ideas and theories. Having relinquished all governmental and party posts, Mahathir is now residing in Putrajaya, the new Malaysian capital, spending time giving consultations, and contemplating upon the future. He rarely talks to the media and when he does, it is usually brief, but the former Malaysian prime minister generously sat for talks with the Mehr News Agency for about 100 minutes. His interesting views on diverse subjects ranging from management and development to challenges...

PUTRAJAYA (Mehr News Agency) — MNA managing director Parviz Esmaeili met and held talks with Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad here in Putrajaya. During the meeting, Mahathir said that the development, stability and influence of the Islamic community require scientific growth and intellectual improvement on one hand and balanced manners and reasonable methods on the other. In the meeting held in Malaysia’s new political capital Putrajaya, Esmaeili awarded Mahathir with MNA’s crystalline statuette in honor of his indomitable efforts to develop intellectual and software movement as well as the production of science in the Islamic world. Esmaeili highlighted Mahathir’s...

JEDDAH, 19 January 2004 — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad yesterday attacked Muslim extremism and called for greater tolerance between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslims and people of other faiths have to work together, he said. Muslims must accept living with non-Muslims, whether the non-Muslims are in a majority or a minority. He attributed part of Malayisa’s success to tolerance. Its different communities respected each other and each other’s religions. That is what guaranteed stability. “Muslims should respect other people’s religions,” he said, “since that respect is part of the Islamic tradition.” On Day Two of the Jeddah Economic...

I am ashamed to be a Muslim ... again. I am originally from a Muslim minority in Russia and I was never quite as ashamed of the Soviet Union, which I left as an anti-Communist emigrant long ago, as I am of the Muslim world that makes even the USSR look free and civilized. Total gender apartheid, treating women worse than animals, tyranny, oppression, intolerance of any kind of free expression and on and on. The Muslim world is the world of no good news. And now, there's yet another sickening, albeit not surprising, headline: "Jews rule the world by...

Special Dispatch Series - No. 618 December 2, 2003 No.618 U.S. Liberal Arabic Website Rebuttal to Mahathir's Speech In response to former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad's address at the Islamic Summit Conference on October 16, 2003, Bassam Darwish, editor of the U.S.-based liberal Arabic site http://www.annaqed.com, wrote an article, titled "A Complex Waiting to be Solved." [1] The article was a rebuttal to Mahathir Muhammad's speech in which he claimed that Jews control the world and encouraged Muslims to unite to achieve a "final victory." The following are excerpts from the article: Mahathir's Speech Encouraged Ignorance Among Muslims "'Despite...

Dr. Mahathir Mohamed has just stepped down after 22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was one of Asia's longest rulers and most controversial rulers. His last public speech had one of his trademarks -- an attack on the Jews -- with the old, anti-semitic canard that they rule the world. Under his leadership Malaysia prospered as one of the fastest growing developing countries in the world. However, he also left a legacy that will have to be dismantled if Malaysia is to resume growth to lift living standards. Dr. Mahathir saw himself as a man of the future....

Lost in the furor over Indonesian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s anti-Semitic comments at last month’s Muslim summit were other revealing parts of his speech. The central theme of Mahathir’s rant was that 6 million Jews hold down 1.3 billion Muslims. The implicit question therein is, what is there about the Muslim world that makes it so weak that it can be held down in such fashion? Apart from the ugly anti-Semitism, Mahathir’s depiction of the Muslim plight constitutes an inadvertent confirmation by a prominent Muslim leader of what Bernard Lewis, Daniel Pipes and other Western scholars have been saying for...

If President Bush wants to get a better handle on the problems he's facing in Iraq and the West Bank, I suggest he study the speech made Oct. 16 by Malaysia's departing prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, to a conclave of Muslim leaders. Most of that speech was a brutally frank look into the causes of the Muslim world's decline. Though it was also laced with shameful anti-Jewish slurs, it was still revealing. Five times he referred to Muslims as humiliated. If I've learned one thing covering world affairs, it's this: The single most underappreciated force in international relations is humiliation....

The recent speech by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was filled with anti-Semitic lies about Jews controlling the world. But his address also contained one truthful and noteworthy remark: “The Europeans killed six million Jews...” Those six words may not seem significant by Western standards, but they are uncommon in the Muslim world, where the Holocaust is widely regarded as a hoax. A poll sponsored by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in 1999 asked Muslims from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority if they felt any sympathy for “the victims of the Holocaust.” More than 80% said...