Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar today took the United Nations to task for not being the core element in the current fight against terrorism.

Syed Hamid said the UN is not being seen as seeking an international solution to the problem and had not taken the role of the main player to initiate dialogues and interaction between international communities.

The UN is the best avenue for developing countries to state their perspective without being inundated with the feeling that they are poor states, said the minister.

We may not come to an agreement but dialogues are the best therapy to tackle the issues in the best way, he said after opening a Roundtable Dialogue on Civilisation and Terrorism organised by Universiti Teknologi Mara.

The main thrust of the dialogue, attended by about 100 participants comprising academics and professionals, was to revisit the meaning and definition of terrorism in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks on America.

Up till now the meaning and definition of terrorism have not been widely accepted by the international community, said Syed Hamid when opening the dialogue.

He said the participants should focus on terrorisms cause and effect aspect based on human civilisation to identify its root causes in order to seek solutions to the problem.

At a press conference later, Syed Hamid said open discussions would help in the de-marginalisation of smaller nations.

It can help us distinguish between state groups and the whole community. Even if the state does something that is not right, we cannot drag in the whole nation, he said.

Currently, discussions are too focused on political solutions or might and everyone wants their own way accepted, he added.

Anti-opposition propaganda

Syed Hamid also said that developing countries are too often blamed for not upholding principles of civil liberty and democracy.

But which is more important; civil liberty and democracy or peace and stability heretic? We may be seen as a committed heretics of liberty and democracy but nothing is absolute, he said.

Asked to comment on whether Malaysia is guilty of abusing the definition of terrorism to support anti-opposition propaganda broadcasts not unlike the RTMs Memali clip, Syed Hamid said the government televisions footage was to create awareness.

What is the best way of instilling awareness in people on the dangers of terrorism? he said.

We just want to remind people and we must not assume that the public is not clever. We need to look at history to take stock of what is happening, he added.

Syed Hamid said the perception that the government is trying to stifle the opposition was not true as in the last general elections, the Barisan Alternatif opposition front managed to garner an increase in votes although it failed to deny the ruling party a two-thirds majority.