Faced with furious criticism from the US and Europe over Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's assertion that Jews rule the world, Malaysia apologized yesterday for any misunderstanding and claimed that no offense was intended.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar struggled to contain the damage wrought by his blunt-spoken boss, who told a summit of Islamic leaders Thursday that ``Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.''
The speech drew immediate international criticism and raised fears that it could fan violence against Jews. But it also got a standing ovation from the kings, presidents, sheiks and emirs -- including key US allies -- gathered at Malaysia's sparkling new capital, Putrajaya.
Mahathir used assertions of Jewish dominance to buttress his chief point to the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference -- the world's biggest Muslim organization -- that Muslims needed to embrace modern knowledge and technology and overcome divisions over religious dogma that have left them weakened on the world stage.
But the statements about Jews stood out, and condemnations were swift and unambiguous from the US, the EU, Australia and Germany, which summoned Malaysia's charge d'affaires in Berlin to protest the comments as ``totally unacceptable.''
``I'm sorry that they have misunderstood the whole thing,'' said Syed Hamid. ``The intention is not to create controversy. His intention is to show that if you ponder and sit down to think, you can be very powerful.''
Mahathir declined to speak to reporters who approached him yesterday, telling them to wait until an evening news conference.
Syed Hamid said the world's Muslims were in a ``quagmire'' and feeling ``sidelined or marginalized,'' reflecting a widespread perception in the Islamic world as the war on terrorism evolved into US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and as Israel increased repression of the Palestinians.
``Please forget about anti-Semitism,'' Syed Hamid told reporters. ``The PM's message is to stop violence, which is not the answer for us to succeed in our struggle. People may not be very happy but this is the reality: the Jews are very powerful.''
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
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