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| Southeast Asia |
| Pull funds from US, Mahathir urges Arabs |
| 2004-05-10 |
| Malaysiaâs just-retired prime minister has not lost his taste for cooking up controversial views. Now Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is calling on Arabs and Muslims to withdraw their US-dollar deposits from the United States, and to use oil as a weapon against the worldâs only superpower. He said Palestinians and other groups should cease suicide bombings as this method of attack has only brought about world anger and stronger retaliation from Israel in the disputed territories. In an interview with Mingguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of the biggest-selling newspaper Utusan Malaysia, Tun Mahathir also charged that President George W. Bush of the US and his challenger John Kerry would not dare to stand up against Israel for fear of losing political ground. Asked how the Muslim world could gain a more sympathetic ear from the US government, he said: âWe have other means to fight them rather than attacking them blindly, but we didnât want to use them. I have spoken about using oil as a weapon. Apart from that, the Arabs keep a lot of money in the US. If we pull out the money, the US can immediately become bankrupt.â This is believed to be the first time he has suggested Muslims withdraw their funds from the US as a tactic. âIf we use this strategy, I believe it will be more effective than tying a bomb to your body and blowing up people,â said Tun Mahathir, who retired last October after 22 years in office. His previous suggestion that Islamic oil-producing countries use oil as a bargaining chip had fallen on deaf ears in a divided Arab world. With Muslims angered by the United Statesâ strong support of Israel and its attack and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, Tun Mahathir had angered many by saying suicide bombers had not helped the Palestinian cause as they did not discriminate between killing soldiers and civilians. In the interview, Tun Mahathir also asked why Muslims should keep billions of their oil money in US dollars, and why global trade should be done only in that currency. Despite debts amounting to US$4 trillion (S$6.8 trillion), the US remains the richest country in the world due to these deposits, he said. âArenât we stupid? The amount is not small as the oil-producing countries keep their petroleum money there,â he said. He also said he did not think âBush or Kerry are brave enough to oppose Israelâ in the US presidential election campaign. Then, repeating what he said during one of his last speeches as premier to the Organisation of Islamic Countries, he said: âThis is why I say that Israel rules the world by proxy.â |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #8 Anonymous4788 was me. |
| Posted by: cingold 2004-05-10 8:35:49 PM |
| #7 Zenster, you have some really gung ho, âpro-militaryâ solutions, but I donât recall you ever answering a central question that you have been repeatedly asked: How do you square your âkill them all, let God sort them outâ rhetoric with your âBush is a crookâ rhetoric? Generally, when I ask you this question you just stop posting for awhile, but I really think inquiring minds would like to hear your answer to the question. I don't mean to be nosey, I was just born that way. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4788 2004-05-10 8:34:44 PM |
| #6 Someone clarify for me, please. If all Muslims removed their holdings from America, wouldn't this make it infinitely easier to trace contributions and donations to the terrorist charities like Hamas? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-05-10 8:28:00 PM |
| #5 The best that can be said for Malaysia is that it's not Indonesia. A plague upon their houses (although they're so disease ridden, I'm not sure they would recognize it.) |
| Posted by: Random thoughts 2004-05-10 1:15:59 PM |
| #4 I say let them take their money out of our country. While they're at it...take their fellow countrymen as well. |
| Posted by: Val 2004-05-10 12:36:05 PM |
| #3 Article: Despite debts amounting to US$4 trillion (S$6.8 trillion), the US remains the richest country in the world due to these deposits, he said. Much of this debt is held by domestic pension and mutual funds. Foreign central banks that hold US debt typically do so as a means of parking their US currency holdings in some liquid asset that generates income. Why are they keeping US dollar holdings? Because the alternative is to sell these US dollar holdings, which would decrease the international competitiveness of their goods with respect to the US. Foreigners don't buy US dollars because they like Americans - they buy them to keep their economies competitive. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-05-10 12:01:46 PM |
| #2 Muslims don't park their funds in the US because they like Americans, any more than Americans buy oil from Arab countries because we like them. Muslims buy real estate in the US because it is, unlike Europe, gaining population, which tends to boost real estate prices. They buy Treasury bonds because the US is a model of fiscal prudence compared to Europe, and has competitive yields. And they buy American stocks because American companies are a font of innovation - always at the forefront of their industries. If the US loses its edge, funds will flow out of the country. But even if that happens, the worst that will happen is that the US economy will end up looking a lot like Canada's economy, not the Muslim worlds' economies. Mahathir (and all of Malaysia's rulers) have had a longstanding problem with economic illiteracy. When Malaysia and Singapore were formed out of what was formerly Malaya in 1965, both countries were at parity, economically. In 2001, Singapore's nominal GDP per capita was USD$20,847. And Malaysia's was - wait for it - USD$3,696. I think Muslims should follow Mahathir's advice. It may do for Muslim investors what it did for Malaysia. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-05-10 10:56:37 AM |
| #1 Moonbat: "We have other means to fight them rather than attacking them blindly, but we didnât want to use them. I have spoken about using oil as a weapon" Fine, we'll use weapons as weapons....take the oil from our enemies, then you'll be a bunch of backwards 7th century numbskulls, seething and crying at your stupid plight. Drama queens, indeed |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-10 10:40:46 AM |