Pak Lah Speaks Frankly On Palestine And Iraq

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi believes that the Palestine issue is "the mother of all issues" which contribute to the widening gap between the Western and Muslim worlds today, reports Bernama.

And yet, said the Prime Minister, the issue was not handled by an honest broker, whose intention was to solve the crisis fairly.

"There are a lot of nasty things happening in that area, and certainly this is yet another issue which has created a lot of disappointment and anger among Muslims, including the moderates," he said in a special interview with Australia Network's Asia Pacific Focus programme which was aired Sunday.

Abdullah, who is also chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said that although the issue was not forgotten, the way it was dealt with was strongly in favour of Israel. "There is a strong belief that if the United States (US) wanted to really, as we all say, be a fair broker, they could achieve it. Israel has always been very faithful to some agreements that have been achieved before," said Abdullah.

The transcript of the interview was made available to Bernama today. Abdullah was in Sydney last week for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit last week.

Asked by the programme presenter, Helen Vatsikopolous, if he was of the opinion that if the US focused more on solving the Palestine-Israel crisis, the relations between the Islamic world and the West would improve, the prime minister said: "I think so."

To another question on the problems of Iraq, Abdullah said it was time for the US-led troops to leave the country and let the Iraqis decide their future. "I know that Iraq is not an easy situation to deal with, but the Iraqis need to be united and not fighting one another, so they should be ready to take over the reigns of government to govern their own country and decide their own future.

"Whether, when the troops withdraw, there will be a bloodbath, or whether when the troops withdraw, the Iraqis can get their act together and sort things out, the destiny of Iraq is in their hands," said Abdullah.

On Islam Hadhari (Civilisational Islam), the prime minister stressed that it was not a vision for war, nor to confine, or a vision against progress. Instead, Islam Hadhari was a concept which promoted fairness for all, he said.

"We are a nation that believes in God, Malaysia, and we talk about the importance of acquiring knowledge, that is fair for all, that no group will be alienated, no group will be left out, all groups within Malaysia, within our country, if we have rules that are common to all of us, then we can stand together and be together," he said.
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