Source: Thedailystar.com
Speaking at a breakfast meeting organised by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) on "Islam and the West", Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamed called on Muslim countries not to trade in U.S. dollars as it only strengthens the U.S. capabilities to produce and provide Israel with weapons that 'they then use to kill Muslims'.
He also urged Muslim states to put aside their differences and focus more on boosting their economic potential.
"The same dollars that we trade in are being used to develop and supply U.S. arms to Israel that kill Muslims," Mahathir said. "I've asked Arabs to sell oil in other currencies. If we don't use U.S. dollars, the currency will become useless".
He added that if the oil and other raw materials that Muslim countries possess were sold in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the dollar would devalue.
Mahathir repeated his earlier proposal that Muslim Nation starts having a new joint currency, the Muslim Dinar, saying that using one currency would boost trade and economic cooperation among Muslim countries.
He 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".
"We may escape the Europeans and the U.S. only to find ourselves behind the newer dominating powers. Today the problem may be the U.S., but tomorrow it may be these countries."
He, moreover, highlighted the need to strengthen the Muslim Nation. "Blaming the U.S. or Israel will not help us." "Muslim countries would have to unite to develop themselves and that is the only way to save the Ummah (Nation)."
"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."
He said the Muslim nations are not exploiting their potential and the rich Muslim countries are not helping other poorer ones to develop.
He noted that Muslim nations needed to put their "houses in order" and concentrate on the material aspects of society which would result in "a greater fulfillment of our potentials and capabilities".
Mahathir stressed the importance of education and suggested the creation of 'centers of excellence' at the best universities across the Muslim world that would allocate scholarships to Muslim students. By doing this, Mahathir said, the Muslim world will revive its mastery of knowledge it had before the 14th century.
Among eminent figures who attended the breakfast meeting were 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, together with other local intellectuals.