Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad said on Friday Muslim nations should use their control of oil supplies as a weapon to give them more influence on the world stage.
"They have in oil, the production of oil, a weapon that can be very effective if they combine with each other," he told a news conference while on a visit to Pakistan.
"I am not saying that we should deprive the world of oil, but we should maybe be selective sometimes in the sale of oil of the Muslim nations -- but the actual strategy can be worked out," he said.
"We should be able to use petroleum to shape opinions in the world," he said, flanked by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Producers have not used the concerted suspension of oil exports as a political weapon since the Arab oil embargo against the West in the 1970s.
Fellow OPEC-member Iran also in April called for an oil embargo on Israel and its allies in support of the Palestinians, but the plea fell on stoney ground in the Arab-dominiated exporters' cartel.
RSS