KUALA LUMPUR - Iraq and Palestine hogged the headlines at this week's summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), but the bigger worry for many of its presidents and prime ministers was how to fight what they see as a new form of colonialism in the age of globalisation.

This threat was a common thread that ran through the 13th NAM summit that ended Tuesday.

Indeed, as Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said at the end of the summit: "If we do not unite or if NAM is not there, they (rich countries) will take us o­ne by o­ne, and kill us off.''

But while this was discussed in the speeches of most leaders and discussions in meetings rooms, the corridors and the media centre, NAM countries also are not exactly sure how to fight it.

Not least, while its members make up two-thirds of the world, they do not have the same economic and political clout as the big powers have.

No consensus

The sense of confusion o­n how to respond collectively to this threat was apparent even during Wednesday's informal meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), which Mahathir convened to discuss the impending war o­n Iraq and Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.

Everyone agreed o­n finding ways to stopping the killings of Palestinians by Israeli troops and to oppose a US-led attack o­n Iraq. But when it was suggested that they use the oil wealth to exert pressure o­n the United States and Britain, they could not reach consensus o­n this approach.

"There was a consensus o­n the need for us to think about it," Mahathir said at a briefing to the media afterwards. "If we don't think about it, we will not be able to exert pressure (on the United States and Britain).''

But, he conceded, there was no consensus o­n using oil as leverage because "some feared the negative consequences". Mahathir avoided answering questions o­n whether some of the pro-US members of the OIC blocked consensus o­n this path of action.

This is also the dilemma facing NAM, whose 116 members consists of many US allies as well as some of the poorest countries in the world who can be swayed by offers of aid and other financial incentives from the rich countries.

This is an issue that was raised not o­nly by Mahathir, but Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and even Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who warned that "the trend will o­nly advance injustice".

'Vanished era'

Writing in the Malaysia-based New Straits Times newspaper, senior political commentator Abdullah Ahmad recalled a "vanished era" when NAM nations were able to contribute "in no small way" to reduce the East-West tensions during the Cold War.

"That has been replaced by a feeling of haplessness and frustration against an increasingly arrogant sole superpower" he observed, adding that "overcoming that feeling will require a consensus o­n actions by substantial numbers".

Ahmad noted that NAM's deliberations here were influenced by o­ne major concern - how the group can remain relevant in an international political environment where there is o­ne superpower and where the gaps between rich and poor countries are widening.

Even the NAM statement o­n Iraq, he said, lacked the old rhetoric and was drafted by diplomats "who were probably haunted by taunts of irrelevance" and wanted to keep NAM in some way engaged in the Middle East crisis.

Ahmad warned that if NAM allows the United States ''to go off o­n its own now", the movement will remain forever o­n the sidelines. Grabbing the "coattails of American unilateralism o­n the hope of slowing it down" would be the best solution for NAM now, he argued.

Still, the mood here was o­ne of determination to find "new paradigms of cooperation", as Megawati suggested to the NAM business forum o­n Sunday.

There, business leaders from NAM, meeting for the first time in such a forum, discussed the formation of a NAM business council to promote greater South-South trade and financial flows.

Some journalists from the developing world covering the summit - there were over 400 of them, much more than western media outfits - sought greater news exchanges among NAM member countries, and even a NAM broadcasting network to get the views of smaller countries across.

Many journalists from NAM countries agreed with Mahathir's assertion that the Western media often distorts news from developing countries and even say lies about them sometimes.

"Western media do not give good coverage to NAM because most members are against western hegemony. So they want to suppress that news," argued Habib Sangtarash, Asia-Pacific bureau chief of the Iranian Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Suhas Borker, executive director of Citizens First Television, New Delhi collected over 100 signatures from journalists here calling o­n Malaysia - as chairman of NAM - to organise a NAM media convention.

"NAM over the years has been alienated from the people and restricted to bureaucrats and politicians" Borker said.

Liberalise media system

Prem Chandran, chief executive officer of the alternative Malaysian news portal Malaysiakini.com welcomes moves to set up a NAM news network. But he says that to have credibility, NAM member countries have to liberalise their media systems and genuinely respect media freedom.

"Otherwise whatever sprouts out will have the tendency to be state controlled or state driven,'' warned Chandran. The Malaysian government has come under fire for the police raids o­n malaysiakini offices last month, which triggered protests from journalists groups in the region and elsewhere.

"(The convention) is a very good idea" said Martin Khor, director of the Malaysia-based Third World Network. "It is best if implementation comes from independent media from the South, so it is able to present independent opinion.''

Said Chandran: "The state must recognise its limitations in playing a leading role and rely more o­n the journalistic fraternity (in their own countries) to lead this.'' - IPS