BANGKOK - Thanks to Washington's plans for an attack o­n Iraq, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been gifted with a political platform to prove that he is a Muslim leader with a backbone, unlike other leaders of countries in the Islamic world.

Wednesday marked the latest in what in recent times has become Mahathir's passionate refrain - that Muslim countries risk being further marginalised if their leaders do not stand up against the decisions being imposed o­n them from outside, notably the West.

''Important decisions affecting the Muslim 'ummah' (community) have been decided and imposed upon us from the outside,'' Mahathir said during an emergency summit in the Qatar capital Doha of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a 57-member group of Muslim countries.

Mahathir, who currently heads the OIC, was unequivocal in his call for Muslim leaders to raise their voices in opposition to the US-led war o­n Iraq. ''We, as OIC leaders, have to help make the miracle happen by joining forces with the rest of the world against war, in particular the war against Iraq,'' he argued.

Last month, heads of states from the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit meeting in Kuala Lumpur got a taste of how trenchant Mahathir is in pounding o­n the US government's military blueprint for Iraq.

''It is no longer just a war against terrorism. It is in fact a war to dominate the world,'' he said at the opening. ''At the moment the most important threat that we face is the tendency of the powerful to wage war when faced with opposition to the spread of their dominance.''

Mahathir's willingness to speak his mind has gone down well in his country, even among many rights activists who criticise him for stepping o­n the political and civil liberties of those who challenge him at home.

The growing anti-war movement in Malaysia finds the prime minister's language in tune with theirs. In fact, Mahathir, more than the street protesters, has come to represent the voice of anti-war sentiments in reports from the region in the international media.

Other Asian leaders pale in comparison, be it Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, leader of the world's largest Muslim country with 228 million people, or Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Last weekend's demonstration in the Pakistani city of Karachi is testimony to the predicament that Muslim leaders like Musharraf are up. Close to 150,000 people, led by the countries religious parties, came out in a major anti-war protest.

Embarrassing situation

Unlike Mahathir, Musharraf, whose country currently sits o­n the UN Security Council, has stuck to a non-committal script o­n the issue. Early this year, in an address to army officers in Lahore, he called for patience o­n the Iraqi front.

That stems from the Catch-22 situation the Pakistani leader is in. Any criticism of Washington's plans could jeopardise the aid Musharraf is expecting from the United States in the wake of the friendlier ties after the Sept 11 acts of terror.

In an even more embarrassing situation are the leaders in the Arab countries of the Muslim world, such as Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan.

To critics, the equivocal positions most of them have taken - to appear to be standing up against the United States o­ne day, appeasing Washington the next - affirms the impression that they are happy to grovel at the feet of Uncle Sam.

After all, the Gulf states, despite their protestations against a conflict in the Middle East, host U.S. troops preparing to attack and invade Baghdad, Khaled Mamdouh, an editor of the web magazine 'Islam o­nline', wrote this week. ''Egypt, o­n a daily basis, allows warships to pass its Suez Canal, en route to the Gulf, for the same mission.''

Likewise, Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, president of last week's Arab summit in Egypt, has in recent weeks ''hailed the great efforts by (brother U.S. President George W) Bush for the good of the Gulf countries,'' added Mamdouh.

Jordan's King Abdullah had ''asked the U.S to make its strike against Iraq 'as quick and as painless as possible'.''

Impotence in issue

The Arab leaders' meeting also brought into focus their impotence in an issue central to the Middle East and to Muslims. While each Arab leader tried to present himself as ''the o­ne and o­nly who is not fearful of the United States'', Mamdouh said, ''an old fact was re-emphasised: Arabs say what they never do''.

This reality - of o­nly o­ne Muslim leader with a profile that overshadows that of other more supine presidents and kings - can be linked to the distinct features of the countries they rule.

Mahathir's Malaysia easily qualifies as a Muslim-majority nation that is truly modern, a fact buttressed by its economic achievements, advances in technology, quality of life and multiculturalism. Leaders of other Muslim countries, by contrast, have much catching up to do, even if, as in the Middle East, they are blessed with natural wealth such as oil.

''The other leaders in the Muslim world have no success stories behind them, even though some are resource-rich,'' added Surin Pitsuwan, a parliamentarian who is Thailand's former foreign minister and a member of the country's Muslim minority. ''Mahathir's position is unique in the

Muslim world. That gives him the confidence.''

''His (Mahathir) is a success story of running a majority-Muslim country with prosperity, stability and maintaining pluralism,'' he added.

Mahathir has not shied away from being critical of extremism within Islam and condemning violence done in the name of the faith. For him, while Muslim countries must denounce Israel's oppression of the Palestinians, they must also oppose the suicide attacks perpetrated by the Palestinians o­n Israeli civilians.

Other leaders, say the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, will have difficulty being cast as a credible voice of moderation given the extreme strand of Islam - Wahabism - Riyadh promotes and exports.

The looming war o­n Iraq could not have come at a better time for Mahathir, who will be stepping down later this year after 22 years in power. It may earn him a place among the famous in the Muslim world the way Osama bin Laden has - but for an entirely different reason. - IPS