Mahathir Charges George Soros With Arson
By Abdullah Marafet
In an interview to The Shredder, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accuses American Billionaire George Soros of complicity in setting the fires that turned SouthEast Asia into a Haze Zone.
"The fires were no accident," said Mr. Mohamad. "How can you talk about the human error? Look at the scale alone! We have firm evidence that the greedy lumber companies that seem to be the obvious culprit were encouraged in their deeds by the representatives of Mr. Soros' Open Society Institute. The guilty parties have been detained and are being interrogated as we speak."
This accusation marks yet another stage in the Malaysian PM's ongoing campaign against the American billionaire. Only a few weeks ago Mr. Mohamad accused Mr. Soros of attacking the Malaysian ringgit and sending this country's economy into a nosedive.
Mr. Mohamad attributes the American's evil deeds to several motives. "First, there was Myanmar, a friendly regime whom we allowed in ASEAN against Mr. Soros's wishes." Mr. Soros's Open Society Institute has been actively campaigning against SLORC, the military junta that rules Myanmar.
"This whole democracy thing... is a US conspiracy to rule the world and tell other countries how to run their affairs. Malaysians don't need American democracy, with its drugs and pornography."
"Secondly, he is Hungarian by origin, and this particular group of people is well-known not only for their propensity to set fires, but for their enmity to Moslems as well, going back to the days when they fought Turkey."
"Finally, there's this whole democracy thing, which is basically a US conspiracy to rule the world and tell other countries how to run their affairs. Malaysians don't need American democracy, with its drugs and pornography."
Mr. Mohamad demonstrated his dedication to shield his country against Western democracy when he visited Cuba and pledged trade and economic support to the Castro Government. "Cuba is a good example of a small country standing up successfully to the American pressure. They may not be having a chicken in every pot and two cars with cellular phones in every garage, but they do not have drugs and pornography either. The way they've dealt with AIDS alone is a good example for any country."
Some commentators have attributed Mr. Mohamad's aggressiveness as a bid for leadership in the Moslem international community. After such divisive watersheds as Gulf War and Oslo agreements, there seems to be vacuum at the top, and the Malaysian Premier is aching to fill it. At 71, he may not have much time left to leave his mark on history. Besides visiting Castro, he has recently spoken out in support of Qaddafi and, as usual, Arafat. And he tweaked his nose at the US again when he joined forces with the French and the Russians to develop a natural gas field in Iran. His vision of the Moslem world is a global one: an arc spanning from Kuala Lumpur all the way to Bosnia.
Mohamad is stepping into the breach with a swelling checkbook, only marginally slimmed down by Soros's plotting. His most serious rival would seem to be Suharto of Indonesia, with whom Mohamad is maintaining a cordial though not particularly close relationship.
There's another motive for arson Mohamad attribuites to Soros but would not admit: the banker's Jewishness. Mohamad has a long history of enmity towards Jews: from censoring the repertory of Zubin Mehta when the latter was to tour Malaysia to banning Schindler's List as Zionist propaganda to, finally, encouraging demonstrations that practically chased the Israeli cricket team from Malaysia (see The Shredder article).
Mohamad's denial of anti-Semitism -- "both Jews and Arabs are Semites" -- has a certain deja vu to it. And not one anti-cricket-team demonstrator has gone to trial to date. Perhaps the investigative capabilities of Malaysian security forces are overtaxed by their effort to find Mr. Soros's arsonists.
Comment by Radio Islam
The last comments by the article-author Abdullah Marafet and his clichés about "enmity towards Jews" and "anti-Semitism" spring from opportunism and fear of reprisals from the Zionist establishment in the international information community and should thus be ignored.
President Mahathir Mohamad is a brave man who puts the finger on the wrongdoings of certain - powerful and dangerous - individuals. It´s not Mohamad´s fault that such individuals in an overrepresentative manner are of the Jewish pseudo-religious creed and are holders of the Zionist Supremacist ideology.