Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad urged rich nations yesterday to pay special taxes to help develop poor countries, saying it would reduce global poverty and help combat terrorism.
"Only when wealth is fairly and evenly distributed ... will we be free from the tensions, the bitterness and the anger which make the deprived resort to violence and terrorism," Mahathir said at the Kuala Lumpur World Peace Conference.
The 77-year old leader painted a bleak picture of the world security situation, accusing rich nations of fueling terrorism by hawking their weapons to poor countries and waging wars "at the slightest excuse."
"Unable to win a conventional war, the weak has resorted to terror attacks," Mahathir said. "Governments may not approve of this but there is no way the governments can discipline their angry and frustrated people."
Mahathir did not name the rich nations but has often said the US policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the US-led occupation of Iraq were fueling Muslim anger and provoking more terrorist attacks worldwide.
The latest attack occurred in neighboring Indonesia on Tuesday when a car bomb at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta killed 10 people and injured almost 150. Authorities believe the attack was carried out by the al-Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Yesterday, Mahathir said poor nations should unite to promote global peace and reject any notion "that the weak must continue to be bullied and hegemonised by the strong."
Mahathir said the threat of war and terrorism could be reduced if rich countries were willing to play special taxes to fund development projects in poor countries.
"They [rich nations] can do so much ... to help remove the extreme disparities between the rich and poor which are the causes of unrest, violence and terrorism," Mahathir said.
Mahathir said global peace would not be achieved if powerful countries continued to act unilaterally, ignoring the UN.
About 1,000 members of Malaysian non-governmental organizations attended the conference.
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