Dr M and Nobel Peace Prize
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is happy his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
“I will be happy together with all Malaysians if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize. But it will be up to those who are evaluating it,” he said after launching the “One Family One Counsellor” programme.
Sunday Star had reported that the Sarejevo School of Science and Technology, the Congress of Bosnik Intellectuals and two Christian groups – the Serb Civic Council from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croat National Council – submitted Dr Mahathir’s name to the Norwegian Nobel Committee last month.
Blogger Rocky asked Dr Mahathir for his views on his being nominated for Nobel Peace Price 2007, and whether he has accepted the nomination that came from former war victims in Bosnia-Herzegovina,at the PGPO (The Perdana Global Peace Organisation) Conference.
"I don't know...I don't know. I think the most important thing is the attempt we are trying to make which is to criminalize war," he said.
" I don't know if I have to accept or not but can we have some other more interesting questions?"
"I think the most important thing is the attempt we are trying to make, which is to criminalise war," emphasised Mahathir.
When asked about the "war" against the blogs, he said :"Oh, I am afraid you don't have the freedom to talk about it."
The Malaysian government is supportive of the initiative taken by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation, headed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to organise the three-day War Crimes Conference and Exhibition, which starts here Monday.
"The Malaysian government is supporting. One of the Ministries has donated a considerable sum of money for this conference and I believe that the Prime Minister's Department too has contributed...I don't know about other governments, only about the Malaysian government," the former Prime Minister revealed at a press conference here, today.
He said the conference this time around would emphasise on war crimes, starting with an informal discussion among invited participants on the subject today at the Legend Hotel.
He said participants to the conference would see a good cross-section of people from all over the world including journalists, victims of torture, scientists and various other interested parties.
"We hope that this conference, which is the third in its series of conferences on criminalising war in Malaysia, would one day be held in other countries. We hope that after this conference we would be able to do something towards criminalising war," Dr Mahathir said.
He said the conference would also set up a commission and a tribunal to try war criminals brought to its attention.
"But that is only one of the things that we wish to do. We will all go back and try to explain the purpose of our conference and try to work among our own people in different countries.
"We have formed a network of people who are interested in criminalising war and they will do their work in their own place in their own circle and we do hope that with the help of the media, this idea that war is a crime, that war is not an option in the solution of feuds between nations would spread among the peoples of the world and that one day we will able to have governments declare that war is illegal and that no nation should go to war," he said.
Dr Mahathir hoped that the conference would be given its due publicity because "we are trying to convert the thinking of people and we know the media plays a huge role in spreading ideas and perceptions which will affect the objective that we are striving for, and the objective remains criminilising war."
He said participants to the conference would be those from war ravaged nations, Canada, United States of America, Japan and many other nations of the world.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the United States (US) President George W. Bush will go down in world history as a war criminal and his country is guilty of terrorism.
"It's because he (Bush) is responsible in an unnecessary killing of many more people than Saddam Hussein. If Saddam is considered as (a) war criminal and deserves to be hanged that way, then he (Bush) is a worse criminal than Saddam," he said on One on One East programme aired by Al-Jazeera Saturday night.
During the 20-minute interview, Dr Mahathir also applied the same label to Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his British counterpart Tony Blair for aiding and abetting the US in the war against Iraq.
"They are the same," he said when asked by the interviewer if Howard and Blair deserved the same treatment as Bush.
In his explanation, Dr Mahathir said Bush was a war criminal for all the killings in the war against Iraq which was illegal as it was not sanctioned by the United Nations (UN).
"They went to war against Iraq despite the fact that the UN did not sanction it...so that war is illegal. So any killing during that war would constitute murder," he said.
Dr Mahathir also said that Bush was contemptuous not only to the UN but also to his own administration when he decided to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq without taking into consideration the views given by his congress.
"This is the kind of man elected by people in a democratic government. It makes one wonder whether democracy is the great thing that was supposed to be.
"Maybe one day you elect a mad man who simply presses the button and starts a nuclear war," he said while expressing his fear that Bush might make more mistakes during his remaining two years as the US President.
On another issue about Iran and nuclear power, the former Prime Minister regarded Bush's perception, that if Iran was allowed to have nuclear power they would use it to attack other countries, as naive and baseless.
"We are frightened of the Nuclear Powers. If the Nuclear Powers have the right to deter us from attacking them why cannot we have the right to deter the Nuclear Powers from attacking us.
"Who is attacking whom at this moment? Are the Muslims going around conquering other countries? No they are not. They are just defending themselves," he said.
Dr Mahathir added Iran also intended to deter other parties from attacking them as they were attacked by Iraq before at the instigation of the US.
"For eight years they lost one million people. If the US were to lose one million people, you know what the US will do? They are going to bomb the rest of the world," he said.
Asked about his recent statement that Bush had Iran as his next target, Dr Mahathir said it would be a big mistake for Bush if he acted on Iran and thought he could get away with it as he did on Iraq.
“I will be happy together with all Malaysians if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize. But it will be up to those who are evaluating it,” he said after launching the “One Family One Counsellor” programme.
Sunday Star had reported that the Sarejevo School of Science and Technology, the Congress of Bosnik Intellectuals and two Christian groups – the Serb Civic Council from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croat National Council – submitted Dr Mahathir’s name to the Norwegian Nobel Committee last month.
Blogger Rocky asked Dr Mahathir for his views on his being nominated for Nobel Peace Price 2007, and whether he has accepted the nomination that came from former war victims in Bosnia-Herzegovina,at the PGPO (The Perdana Global Peace Organisation) Conference.
"I don't know...I don't know. I think the most important thing is the attempt we are trying to make which is to criminalize war," he said.
" I don't know if I have to accept or not but can we have some other more interesting questions?"
"I think the most important thing is the attempt we are trying to make, which is to criminalise war," emphasised Mahathir.
When asked about the "war" against the blogs, he said :"Oh, I am afraid you don't have the freedom to talk about it."
The Malaysian government is supportive of the initiative taken by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation, headed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to organise the three-day War Crimes Conference and Exhibition, which starts here Monday.
"The Malaysian government is supporting. One of the Ministries has donated a considerable sum of money for this conference and I believe that the Prime Minister's Department too has contributed...I don't know about other governments, only about the Malaysian government," the former Prime Minister revealed at a press conference here, today.
He said the conference this time around would emphasise on war crimes, starting with an informal discussion among invited participants on the subject today at the Legend Hotel.
He said participants to the conference would see a good cross-section of people from all over the world including journalists, victims of torture, scientists and various other interested parties.
"We hope that this conference, which is the third in its series of conferences on criminalising war in Malaysia, would one day be held in other countries. We hope that after this conference we would be able to do something towards criminalising war," Dr Mahathir said.
He said the conference would also set up a commission and a tribunal to try war criminals brought to its attention.
"But that is only one of the things that we wish to do. We will all go back and try to explain the purpose of our conference and try to work among our own people in different countries.
"We have formed a network of people who are interested in criminalising war and they will do their work in their own place in their own circle and we do hope that with the help of the media, this idea that war is a crime, that war is not an option in the solution of feuds between nations would spread among the peoples of the world and that one day we will able to have governments declare that war is illegal and that no nation should go to war," he said.
Dr Mahathir hoped that the conference would be given its due publicity because "we are trying to convert the thinking of people and we know the media plays a huge role in spreading ideas and perceptions which will affect the objective that we are striving for, and the objective remains criminilising war."
He said participants to the conference would be those from war ravaged nations, Canada, United States of America, Japan and many other nations of the world.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the United States (US) President George W. Bush will go down in world history as a war criminal and his country is guilty of terrorism.
"It's because he (Bush) is responsible in an unnecessary killing of many more people than Saddam Hussein. If Saddam is considered as (a) war criminal and deserves to be hanged that way, then he (Bush) is a worse criminal than Saddam," he said on One on One East programme aired by Al-Jazeera Saturday night.
During the 20-minute interview, Dr Mahathir also applied the same label to Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his British counterpart Tony Blair for aiding and abetting the US in the war against Iraq.
"They are the same," he said when asked by the interviewer if Howard and Blair deserved the same treatment as Bush.
In his explanation, Dr Mahathir said Bush was a war criminal for all the killings in the war against Iraq which was illegal as it was not sanctioned by the United Nations (UN).
"They went to war against Iraq despite the fact that the UN did not sanction it...so that war is illegal. So any killing during that war would constitute murder," he said.
Dr Mahathir also said that Bush was contemptuous not only to the UN but also to his own administration when he decided to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq without taking into consideration the views given by his congress.
"This is the kind of man elected by people in a democratic government. It makes one wonder whether democracy is the great thing that was supposed to be.
"Maybe one day you elect a mad man who simply presses the button and starts a nuclear war," he said while expressing his fear that Bush might make more mistakes during his remaining two years as the US President.
On another issue about Iran and nuclear power, the former Prime Minister regarded Bush's perception, that if Iran was allowed to have nuclear power they would use it to attack other countries, as naive and baseless.
"We are frightened of the Nuclear Powers. If the Nuclear Powers have the right to deter us from attacking them why cannot we have the right to deter the Nuclear Powers from attacking us.
"Who is attacking whom at this moment? Are the Muslims going around conquering other countries? No they are not. They are just defending themselves," he said.
Dr Mahathir added Iran also intended to deter other parties from attacking them as they were attacked by Iraq before at the instigation of the US.
"For eight years they lost one million people. If the US were to lose one million people, you know what the US will do? They are going to bomb the rest of the world," he said.
Asked about his recent statement that Bush had Iran as his next target, Dr Mahathir said it would be a big mistake for Bush if he acted on Iran and thought he could get away with it as he did on Iraq.
The Perdana Global Peace Organisation is organizing a conference cum Exhibition entitled EXPOSE WAR CRIMES: CRIMINALISE WAR from 5th to 7th February 2007 from 8.30am. to 5.30pm. at the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur. The Conference will be held at Dewan Merdeka, PWTC while the Exhibition, which will be extended to February 11 2007, will be held at Dewan Tun Razak Hall 4.
This Conference and Exhibition is the continuation of our efforts to publicise and garner as much support as possible to the Kuala Initiative to Criminalise War which was launched by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed in December 2005.
posted by Ah Yun Wong at
11:19 AM
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