I refer to LJ's letter o­n Feb 14 - (Palestine still a problem between Arab countries and the US) - in which he said that "[Manjit Bhatia] has a compulsive need to attack Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad even to the point of inventing ridiculous propositions".

It may be true that Manjit has 'attacked' the PM's policies o­n several occasions, but I believe he has done this based o­n sound facts.

There are truths to Manjit's statement that "since 1990 most Arab Muslim states have been quietly and increasingly supporting the US' Middle East policy, and even financing it".

It's possible that LJ has failed to get the impression o­n these issues through the Malaysian media as it is known that the Malaysian media is mostly controlled.

It is public knowledge that most of the Arab Muslim states have been quietly supporting the US' Middle East policy for a long time. Most of the Middle East states - Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain - have hosted US military bases for many years.

Once in a while, the Middle East states may make a 'little' noise of this and that, but in the end they are all quietly supporting the US's policy in the region.

We must not confuse public opinion in the Middle East with the actions of their governments. They are not always the same especially with regard to their relationship with the US government.

Malaysia should not waste millions of ringgit o­n trying to host the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

Instead, the money should be used to benefit many disadvantaged groups in our own country. But isn't it typical of our PM that he would seek every recognition he could get, not o­nly from Malaysia but the whole world?

Is it worth meddling in the world's problems when we do not have much resources to do so? Is it worth trying to 'correct' the Middle East situation when the Middle East states themselves do not want to 'correct' themselves?

We are the bigger fool here, for quietly acquiescing our PM's desire to be an active player o­n all major world issues. Such ambitions have cost the state billions of ringgit over the years.

I fully support Manjit when he said, "It's a wild list of scandalous opportunism through the corrupt abuse of power and position."