KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday warned Malaysians that Muslim fanaticism threatened their 44-year-old multi-racial democracy.
"There are also groups that are fanatic enough to organise an armed force to seize power and overthrow the democratically elected government," Mahathir said in a televised address on the eve of the anniversary of independence from Britain in 1957.
In the past month 10 men were locked up, among them the son of the spiritual leader of Malaysia's main opposition party, Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS).
Police accuse them of belonging to an Afghan-inspired militant group responsible for murder, robbery and religious terrorism, and Mahathir justified the use of a law allowing detention without trial.
"Because of their faith in their political leader and belief that their mission is permitted and demanded by Islam, and because of their certainty that the current democratic system will not allow them to come to power and form an Islamic nation of their imagination, they face the law today for armed crimes," Mahathir said.
PAS leaders say the 75-year-old premier, who has led Malaysia for 20 years, is behaving like a dictator trying to cling to power, and have challenged the police to try the men in an court.
In his speech, Mahathir avoided mentioning PAS by name or its desire to create an Islamic state, but he said young Malays were being poisoned with hatred by teachers and lecturers at universities.
PAS has recruited very successfully among students, while Mahathir's own moderate United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has lost ground among the youth.
TRYING TO TURN THE TIDE
Many Malays turned to PAS after the sacking and jailing of popular former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in 1998, and Mahathir's multi-racial coalition, which still has a two-thirds majority, is trying to turn the tide before elections in 2004.
By raising fears over the religious fanaticism and the Islamic state issue, Mahathir could win support back from moderate Malays and the sizeable ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
The alleged involvement of Malaysians in bomb attacks on churches last month has also raised fears that extremism could spread in Malaysia, so far regarded as one of the most peaceful countries in Southeast Asia.
But while many Malaysians also harbour fears about PAS's agenda, moderates also would like to see Mahathir to begin civil reforms and show more tolerance toward critics.
Nearly two-thirds of Malaysia's 22 million people are Malays and other bumiputra -- sons of the soil -- while 25 percent are ethnic Chinese and seven percent Indians.
OVERDONE
Earlier on Thursday, Mahathir, who came to power championing Malay rights, said he overdid an affirmative action programme favouring his own Malay people.
Malaysia's Chinese and Indian minorities resent the perpetuation of the system of quotas favouring Malays in education, jobs and business.
The system seeks to bring the indigenous Malays on par with the other ethnic groups, especially Chinese, and foster greater equality.
"It's not really my mistake but it's something that I thought was a good thing. We set out to achieve equality among the races. In the process of course we had to have affirmative action."
Malaysia's affirmative-action New Economic Policy was launched in the early 1970s by Malay leaders shaken by racial violence between the affluent Chinese and poverty-stricken Malays in 1969, during which nearly 200 people died.
11:05 08-30-01
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