The hard-line leader of Malaysia's opposition Islamic party fired up his supporters Friday for looming general elections by denouncing the United States as an enemy of Islam and voicing support for Palestinian suicide bombers. Abdul Hadi Awang, president of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, called the United States and its allies "imperialist powers who are finding ways to be confrontational with Islam."
| By defending ourselves? How unilateralist of us! |
"The United States and its allies must stand trial before the conscience of the world for unilaterally destroying other nations, all under the rubric and pretext of war against terrorism," Abdul Hadi told about 2,000 supporters at the party's annual meeting.
| Sounds like the verdict's already in with Abdul... |
But Abdul Hadi rejected claims by Malaysia's government that his party encourages extremism leading to terrorism, calling the claims "communist tactics" to inspire fear in voters.
| "Who us? Extremists? People who oppose us are extremists!" |
Known for his fiery rhetoric, Abdul Hadi will lead the Islamic party - Malaysia's largest opposition group - into general elections expected to be called early next year. The election will be the first time in 22 years that the government's campaign will not be led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is due to retire in coming weeks.
| And he's a nut case himself... |
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party controls two of Malaysia's 13 states and will be looking to take power in more. Success could spell an early exit for Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the deputy whom Mahathir has anointed as his successor. Clad in a turban and wearing a traditional Malay costume, Abdul Hadi claimed the United States invaded Iraq and Afghanistan because "they hate Islam and they are after the oil and to protect the Zionist Israeli state."
| Nothing to do with any attacks on our soil in the latter case, nothing to do with the care and feeding of terrorism in the former... |
Abdul Hadi described Israel as the "biggest terrorist and criminal" and declared his party would continue to support Hamas and Islamic Jihad. A senior Hamas official, Mahmud Siyad, was present as a dignitary. The crowd, segregated between men and women, cheered at these remarks, saying: "God is great!" They sipped on Iranian-made sodas, reflecting a boycott of Coca-Cola. Later, Abdul Hadi told a news conference: "All Israeli civilians are soldiers and all of Israeli territory is a battlefield."
| Perhaps he should have a chat with King Abdullah? But then, he's not the first fellow to come up with the idea... |
Abdul Hadi maintained he did not support terror attacks in Indonesia, blamed on the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, because it involved killing "innocent civilians, tourists and business people." |