Mahathir : Prevailing Definition of "Terrorist" Must be Changed

Makassar (ANTARA Sulsel) - The standard definition of the word "terrorist" should be rejected because it was actually made by western media to put a stigma on terror actors in developing countries, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad said.

The western media had ignored the fact that the number of victims of terror acts in developing countries was much lower than that of victims of humanitarian tragedies in Palestine, Mahathir said here Thrusday.

"We need to reject the prevailing interpretation of terrorist and redefine it," he said in a talk with the media at Hasanuddin Univerty's research hospital.

Mahathir said that in its general definition, the word terrorist means a person who creates the feeling of insecurity and fear, and threatens the life of an individual or a group of people.

Therefore, he added that terror actors in developing countries in Asia who were branded by western countries as terrorists should be defined alike for terror actors from developed countries against weak countries, for example, the Israeli attack on Gaza which had claimed thousands of innocent lives.

"So whoever commits terror acts by threatening the lives of other people and creates the feeling of fear and insecurity are called terrorists, and thus Israeli and American soldiers are also terrorists," Mahathir said.

Concerning bomb terror by extremist groups which have claimed the live of a number of people in ASEAN countries, Mahathir said the source of the problem was the case of Israeli occupation of Palestine.

According to Mahathir, human victims in Palestine following Israeli attacks had irked or outraged the world's Muslim community and some of them were forced to use un-orthodox ways by tying bombs on their bodies to commit suicide bombings.

The former Malaysian leader said that some Muslim people committed bomb terror as a form of protest against the maltreatment of Palestinian people in the Middle East, and although its surrounding countries adhered to Islam, the Palestinian people did not get assistance from them.

(O001/HAJM)