Medic Mahathir - Right Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription!

By Dr Alamgir Hussain

mmalamgir@yahoo.com

Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, the Malaysian Prime Minister, has long been deemed a lone but persistent voice of reasons amongst the leaderships in the Muslim world. Although Dr. Mahathir has been known more for his consistently vitriolic tirades against the West, his diatribes have however remained mainly targeted at the trade and economic policies of the rich Western nations and International Monetary Fund (IMF) which he considers unsuitable to poorer nations. Despite his diatribes against the West, Dr Mahathir has always emphasized on acquiring excellence in Science and Technology by the Muslim world in an effort to catch up with the West as a means of survival in the modern world – a call badly absent in the backward Muslim World.  For this reason, Dr Mahathir has commanded good respect amongst the progressive and modernist intellectuals in the Muslim World despite criticisms in other areas of his policies and actions, notably his stern actions against his political enemies.

Recently, after being promoted to the top post of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Dr Mahathir has made a series of remarks in the OIC conference meeting and elsewhere unexpected of him, as it appears, which he claims to have been misunderstood by his critiques especially by those in the West. Those contentious comments of his have, however, created a tide of joyous ecstasy amongst majority of the ordinary Muslims whilst creating a heated debate and criticism amongst his critiques of both Muslims and non-Muslim background. Whilst, a minority of his diehard apologist fans (mostly moderate Muslims) have been busy explaining how badly the West and the critiques have misunderstood his assertions and blown the whole issue out of proportion. When I myself, a long-time fan of Dr Mahathir, went through the whole script of his 59-point speech, attained the realization that Dr Mahathir has possibly lived to reputation of a good medic by making the correct diagnosis of the “cancer” which is debilitating the entire Muslim world, a faculty glaringly absent amongst leaders in the Muslim Ummah. He, however, appear to have miserably failed himself by prescribing a wrong drug, possibly a fatally dangerous one to be precise. This essay will focus on the seemingly controversial comments he made in relation to the Jew-Muslim conflict that has been condemned by the critiques as a potential bombshell for serious troubles between the two people.

Problems Muslim World need to address: Dr Mahathir’s speech rightly recognizes the shortcomings and weaknesses of the Muslim world that Muslim countries are weak and badly administered, constantly in a state of turmoil, Muslim countries are unfairly occupied by foreign powers and their people are starved and killed, 1.3 billion Muslims can exert no power to save themselves from the humiliation and oppression inflicted upon them by a much smaller enemy, the Muslim religion was misinterpreted into numerous forms and there is no emphasis on studying science, medicine etc. As always, Dr Mahathir has honestly spelt out the critical issues, which are handicapping the Islamic world and stressed on overcoming them so as to catch up with the advanced world.  This is where Dr Mahathir has always stood apart from other Muslim leaders who have either failed to identify or sought to ignore the need or urgency for addressing these critical issues, which is clearly evident in their words as well as in actions.  Leaders and politicians in most pseudo-democratic Muslim countries have engaged themselves mainly in petty bickering and religious game-playing to grab power whilst the kings of the middle-eastern countries, riding on the temporal flow of oil-money, have engaged in leisure and indulgence without caring to bother about the problems so perniciously debilitating their countries. It should be understood well that unless we, the Muslim World, work hard on these issues and excel in science and technology, attain good governance, institute basic human rights and democracy, we will always remain a impotent force in the world affairs despite our huge natural wealth and the big number. It should also be understood well that situation will only get worse minus the oil in the middle-east in a few decades.

Jew-Muslim conflict: Although Dr Mahathir has precisely identified the pressing issues that handicap the Muslim world and stressed on the need to overcome them, this good work was however overshadowed by the anti-Semitic and anti-West vitriol expressed in his speech. The strongly anti-Semitic and anti-West flavor which occupies a significant volume of his speech is reflected in the following selected quotes:

- The Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews.

- Muslim ummah are treated with contempt and dishonor... Our countries are occupied. Our people starved and killed (by the Jews & West).

- 1.3 billion people can exert no power to save themselves from the humiliation and oppression inflicted upon them by a much smaller enemy (Jews)?

- 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weakness and our strength, to plan, to strategize and then to counter attack.

- Over half a century we have fought over Palestine. What have we achieved? Nothing. We are worse off than before. If we had paused to think then we could have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory.

- 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.

Dr Mahathir must have received more resounding cheers and applause for these instigatory and potentially dangerous comments in his speech from his fellow comrades and more from the ordinary Muslims around the world. I have no doubts to emphasize the point that the good work he has done by pointing to addressing the pressing issues crippling the Muslim world, the entire Muslim Ummah must have become ecstatic by the anti-Semitic hate-inciting aspect of his lecture. His comrades must have left the conference overly satisfied with the way Dr Mahathir spoke his mind against the Jews and the West while completely forgetting about those critical issues Dr Mahathir desperately seeks the Muslim world to address forth-with. As an ordinary Muslim, I do believe that the Jews do not have any grudge against the Muslims in general except for the sticky issue of Israel-Palestine conflict; they do not have any ill feeling against the Muslims in other parts of the world and they do not have fight against the entire Muslim world. If agreed to this fact, it must have been extremely unwise and irresponsible to label Jews as the common enemies of the Muslims. It has been more unwise and hate-inciting on Dr Mahathir’s part to urge the entire Muslim World to unite, strategize and strengthen before launching a destructive attack against the enemy (Jews), a call which can lead to a devastating end. Dr Mahathir has also urged Muslims to follow the path of Prophet Muhammad and instructions of Allah in this fight, a sentiment that can incite the fanatics to a desperate Jihad (Holy War) for the cause of Allah and his Prophet. His remark will quickly remind us of the lethal weapon of Adolf Hitler, “Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: 'by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” 

Jews deserve hate or compassion? Dr Mahathir has further been honest in recognizing the fine achievements of the Jews when he says, “We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also.” Dr Mahathir has rightly credited the Jews for the invention of Socialism, human rights and democracy but quickly has labeled them as congenital enemies of the Muslims and called for a persistent and effective fight against them. But one must ask the simple question: have Dr Mahathir and the Muslims in general been able to pay due tribute to the Jews for the unparallel achievements they have blessed the humankind with, despite the ceaseless inhuman persecutions they have experienced at the hands of the Christians in which Muslims later joined and which continued for 2000 years? Aren’t the concepts of Socialism, humanism, democracy, equal rights are the finest trademark of today’s civilized world? If that is so, has Dr Mahathir at all paused a while to pay a little tribute for those finest human achievements brought about by such a small and disadvantaged people. No, he did not.  Instead, he has launched a vitriolic attack on such a valuable people. The truth of the matter is that a few million Jews have contributed much more to humankind in science, technology, entrepreneurship, entertainment, human development and what not when compared with that of 1.3 billion Muslims. Today, thousands of Muslims are working in Jews farms in Europe and America to make a very handsome living whilst hardly a Jew is making a living working in a Muslim farm. Indeed, today’s world would have looked so much uncivilized and underdeveloped, had this small community of people would have not come to and survived in this world. And minus the Jews, today’s world itself will be much poorer in every endeavor of human development including science, education, philosophy, literature, entertainment, human rights, values, and dignity and of course in wealth. If that is true, which is indeed so, isn’t it important to greatly value this small community of people and seek for peaceful ways to solve any dispute that any other community may have with them, instead of seeking to stage a decisive and effective war so as to knock them out of this world.

The Israel-Palestine crisis- has OIC done enough? One sticking issue that exists between the Jew and the Muslim world is the Israel-Palestine conflict, which has lasted for over half-a-century and pitted these two people against each other as congenital enemies. But I must ask this question: has the Muslim world done enough, wisely and considerately to solve this blithe conflict? I am afraid as reflected in Dr Mahathir’s OIC speech; the Muslim world has not done anything worthwhile along that line. Dr Mahathir’s speech is effusively anti-Semitic and clearly spells out the desire to annihilate the state of Israel even if it requires a long, tenacious, and ruthless fight. But after a five and half decade-long fight, I believe it is time for the Muslim world to recognize the fact that the desire to annihilate the Israeli state is impractical, unwise, and inconsiderate. Countries have broken and rejoined over the centuries; history is replete with such instances of reorganization. The minority Muslim population of the Indian subcontinent sought a separate state during the independence from the British rule in 1947 and as a result of that, the state of Pakistan was created in a similar instance as the state of Israel was created at about the same time by the British rulers in both cases. If the Hindus of India could easily agree to the creation of Pakistan, why cannot the Muslims of Palestine and more importantly the entire Muslim world accept the creation of Israel even today? When the whole Muslim world cheered the creation of Pakistan in the subcontinent, their disagreeing to the creation of Israel constitutes a clear instance of hypocrisy. The entire Hindu community of our world never considered the Muslims as their enemies for the creation of Pakistan in the then Indian subcontinent but why then the entire Muslim world has to get mad in labeling Jews their congenital enemies for the creation of Israel. Creation of the state of Pakistan by dividing the soil of Indian subcontinent was a similar loss to the Hindus as it was a loss to the Palestine people when their country was divided to create Israel despite whatever minor differences may exist.

Given due consideration to the above questions and given the situation that it is impractical to kick the emigrated people of Israel out at this point, it is important for the Muslim world to realize the necessity of Israel to exist on part of the Jews people. If so, the Muslim world and the OIC in particular should take necessary steps to spell out that undeniable fact in clear terms and make a plea to the Muslim world to support such an idea. There is an encouraging sign that Saudi Arabia, a key player in the Muslim world, recently expressed interest to recognize the state of Israel, of course under certain conditions with Egypt and Jordan already maintaining diplomatic relations. As an ordinary Muslim, I do feel that the road-map, which was recently initiated but unfortunately derailed, remains a very considerate outline for solving this blithe conflict. The Muslim world should today recognize this ground reality and will do best if they could use the OIC meeting as a platform to make a compassionate appeal to our Palestine brothers to shun violence and make concessions to have the Israeli state as friendly neighbor than enemies. Such a message will go well with both sides and could help bring the violence to a screeching halt so that the implementation of the proposed road map can move forward smoothly.

Muslim-Jew friendship, not hatred is the necessity. It is unfortunate that the OIC forum rather quickly declared the Jews as enemies of the Muslim and sought to wage a thoughtful, well-planned, and decisive war so as to defeat them in Israel whilst exactly the opposite was the urgency of the day. Any such move and the rhetoric will only increase the suffering of the both people without achieving anything for the Palestinians and the Muslims. As an ordinary Muslim, I do believe that the Muslim World quite well could use the Jews as a valuable and friendly partner in solving myriads of issues crippling progress and development at their own homes. The Muslim World has so much to learn from the Jews in achieving excellence in Science, technology, governance, democracy, entrepreneurship etc., which the Christian world has availed so well despite the horrendous and devastating conflict between them during the World War II. It must also be understood clearly that the Jew people have suffered too much and for too long a time at the hands of both the Christians and the Muslims. In this 21^st-century civilized world, I believe all Christian and Muslims have a strong reason to feel compassion for the sufferings of Jews over the centuries and make a clarion call for peaceful friendship instead of inciting another potentially devastating war, which was regrettably outlined in Dr Mahathir’s awe-inspiring OIC lecture.

I have a gut feeling that Dr Mahathir will seek anything but Palestinians and other Muslims go blow up themselves to kill Israeli civilians taking inspiration from his speech. But Dr Mahathir must be surprised that there is a hush-hush conversation making rounds in the Muslim world so as to wonder if he is the proverbial Imam Mehedi of the Muslim faith who might have arrived finally to lead the Ummah in a decisive Armageddon against enemies (Jews and Christians). A few such speeches by Dr Mahathir can quickly make the fanatics arrive at the conclusion that he indeed is the same Imam Mehedi and with every instigatory comment he makes may inspire those fanatics in great numbers to explode leading to a grave disaster.

Muslims countries get invaded – has the Muslim world done its part? Dr Mahathir has rightly recognized the obvious fact when he say, “Muslim ummah are treated with contempt and dishonor... Our countries are occupied”. Given what have happened in Afghanistan and Iraq, Dr Mahathir has been on target in recognizing the ignominious reality they are suffering from. But the question quickly comes to mind: has the Muslim world themselves done enough to avoid such shameful treatment?  In regard to the issue of America and its allies occupation of Afghanistan, the Taleban regime which ruled the country for over five years, put the Muslim World in a very awkward position than what the occupation army (Americans) did for the Americans. Let us not delude ourselves thinking that Talebans were a benign force.  The Taleban of Mullah Omar is a regime, which was hell-bent on taking the country to 7^th-century Islamic world, flagrantly violated the rights of its citizens and especially the entire women folk of the country virtually lost five long years of their lives.  Besides, they brought immense sufferings, poverty, and backwardness to the country, which was virtually going to reduce entire population to refugees. But did the Muslim world take any action, make viable threat or even make any strong statement against this shameful and cruel regime, which should have no place in today’s civilized world?

In the same vein, Saddam Hussein’s cruel and repressive regime ruled Iraq for 25 long years. During this time, he terrorized its citizens no less than did the Talebans.  He made majority non-Sunni Muslims and the Kurdish people second class citizen and caused immense torture, atrocity, and suffering for them. He fought a war with neighboring Iran for over ten years and finally ended up invading Kuwait. His stay in power lead to loss of a million lives. Of course, he brought immense sufferings and poverty to the country. But what the Muslim world has done to save the people of Iraq? Zilch. Didn’t they remain largely mum whilst our Muslim brothers inside Iraq kept going through untold sufferings, torture, and repression? Same was the case with Talebans in Afghanistan. The Muslim world has done absolutely nothing to help alleviate the sufferings of our Muslim brothers either in Iraq or in Afghanistan. Dr Mahathir said that the Jews and West oppress Muslims. But isn’t it true that Muslim themselves, namely crazy autocrats like Talebans and Saddam have oppressed, terrorized, humiliated, and killed our Muslims brothers more than did the Jews in Palestine. Why don’t we see the Muslim world become hell-bent enemies of people like Saddam and the Talebans whilst being mad about oppression and violation the Jews have caused to our Palestinian brothers which much softer in severity?  Why is this hypocrisy? Is it okay to do any sort of torture and violation of our Muslim brothers as long as another Muslim does it? Why is it that the Muslim world cannot speak up against such tyrannical and cruel regimes in Muslim countries like the way the West quickly speaks up against similar or even less cruel and repressive regimes in Christian countries, say in Zimbabwe? The Muslim Ummah seems to have no worry as long our Muslim brothers suffer at the hands of Muslims themselves, however cruel and oppressive it may be, which is not true for the Western world.

Without disputing the fact that what has happened to Afghanistan and Iraq is a serious case of humiliation to the Ummah and more to the people of those two countries but we should feel more shame and humiliation for the kind of atrocities, human violation and torture perpetrated by the Talebans and Saddam. The deafening silence of the Ummah about those repressive regimes is even a greater shame when we quickly point fingers to America and the West for their occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Also, there is no way we can deny that the Afghan people who were flocking out of the country by the hundreds and thousands every day before removal of Talebans are today returning back to their homes to start a peaceful, proud and hopeful life there. Their life is improving everyday; they are slowly but surely getting their country back to their hands. They are getting back their freedom and liberty; their women are slowly getting their confidence back and getting back to work whilst the girls are back to schools. All these achievements could have never happened and instead, things could only get worse had the Talebans stayed in power.  Obstruction by the remnants of Talebans and Al-Qaeda is hampering the progress but surely things are getting better by the day which was otherwise unimaginable. Similarly, things are getting better in Iraq too but severe obstruction mainly by the remnants of Saddam’s Baathist regime causing serious impediments but with patience and perseverance peace, liberty and freedom will eventually return to the people of Iraq too. Despite, whatever interests US and it allies may have in Afghanistan and Iraq, the people of those two countries will be huge winners in this game of occupation of their country by the enemies of Islam as Dr Mahathir has called the occupiers if the occupying force stand by their pre-war promise and if they be able to carry out the job as they wish. If that becomes the end result of this game of occupying those two countries for which the Ummah has contributed absolutely nothing, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan may have good reasons to dissociate from the Ummah instead of identifying themselves with the latter. Muslim Ummah’s cry for the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq may prove to be nothing more than shedding crocodile’s tears on behalf of those two countries.

In conclusion, it will be wiser on behalf of OIC to agree to and support the Roadmap in the Middle-east which the People of Palestine itself are willing to accept. A reconciliatory gesture of OIC will go a long way to help reach the final peaceful settlement. In a few decades as the Oil-money dries up in the Middle-east and with no attention and effort on a science and technology-based economy in place that can survive without the oil-flow, our Muslim brothers in those now-rich countries may well be reduced to beggars. Israel’s strategic location in the Middle-east with a science and technology-based resilient and vibrant economy can be used as a model, especially by the Middle-eastern Muslim countries to survive in the coming harsh times. An approach of Jew-Muslim friendship, instead of hatred, has so much to reward the Muslim world and more to the Middle-eastern countries. Especially after over 50 years of conflict, it is an undeniable reality that Israel will survive and agreeing to the Roadmap in place by the entire Muslim world only can benefit everyone, including the Palestinians.