espeTheology and Religious Education Department

De La Salle University
Taft Avenue, Manila

Module 5: Our commitment towards the fullness of life: The world faith traditions and the challenge of peace,
justice, integrity of creation

MAHATHIR MOHAMMED

Charles: Good afternoon everyone! Welcome to the Charles’ Show and today we will discuss about Mahathir
Mohammed, to know more about him, play video.

Flash video containing his brief biography mainly the following details:

Mahathir bin Mohammed was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from
1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest-serving Prime Minister. He was born July 10, 1925. He is a Muslim
and a doctor by profession.
As Prime Minister, he was credited with engineering Malaysia's rapid modernization He had always
believed in the need for "education for the masses", with greater emphasis on Math and Science, at high school
level, in order to achieve his dream of a developed Malaysia.
He was also widely known as an outspoken critic of Western-style globalization.

Charles: To help us understand Mohammed’s perspective on peace and justice, we have Gab and Jay

Gab: Perspective on peace

Flash the underlined word in the PowerPoint presentation.
He thinks that the most superior religion in the world is Islam. He is clearly anti-Jewish. He started
exploiting them. He also said that the September 11 crash in the U.S. was staged because the U.S. didn't want to go
to war with the Middle East. Mahathir offered his support in the global war against terrorism, but he opposed the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Mahathir, always a controversial figure, often criticized the West, and he raised
the ire of many foreign governments and many non-Muslims in particular by attacking Jews in a major speech
delivered just days before his retirement as prime minister on October 31, 2003.
Under Mahathir, Malaysia was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, and established diplomatic
relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Israeli citizens remain banned from entering Malaysia and
Malaysian citizens from Israel without special government permission.

Jay: Perspective on justice

Flash the underlined word in the PowerPoint presentation.

He thinks that the world has a negative view on Muslims. Those somehow made him react in a much more
negative way by exploiting other religions. Mahathir is an advocate of National sovereignty. This was articulated in
the ASEAN policy of non-interference. In 2000, Mahathir was quoted as saying: "If Australia wants to be a friend to
Asia, it should stop behaving as if it is there to teach us how to run our country. It is a small nation in terms of
numbers and it should behave like a small nation and not be a teacher." He also said, "This country stands out like a
sore thumb trying to impose its European values in Asia as if it is the good old days when people can shoot
aborigines without caring about human rights".

Larisa: Obstacles
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Due to the negative perspective of the world to Muslims it made it hard for him to make them look good
that he resulted to exploiting Jews to make them look more violent and bad than what the world thinks Muslims
really are.
 His comments were widely criticized in the West, but the issue was ignored in Asia and Islamic countries,
which felt that his remark had been taken out of context. Mahathir later defended his remarks, saying: "I am not anti-
Semitic ... I am against those Jews who kill Muslims and the Jews who support the killers of Muslims."

Charles: What do we, the present generation, benefit or learn from Mohammed’s perspective’s, Shandy?

Shandy: Application today

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It is applicable in such a way that you try to become what others perceive you to be instead of you forcing
others to understand you. Although some say that we should accept someone as whom they are, but that someone
also has the right to become a better person. This also had some negative implications on the Muslim people because
of Mahathir’s resort to violence. We should learn to respect one another, and talk out our differences peacefully.

Charles: To summarize everything,

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Lasallians can contribute to the fullness of life, not only for themselves, their family and community but for
the rest of society by not stereotyping against each other making everyone feel that no one is above anyone and that
God is the only one above us all.

Charles: To end our program we’ll show you a moving music video about peace and an appreciation poem to
Mother Teresa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcyfwiaQawE – MV about peace

Mother Teresa c/o Shandy