Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today condemned the international community's response to the Israeli siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters.

Mahathir, returning from a trip to Europe, described talk about justice, fair play, human rights and democracy as "sheer nonsense and mere hypocrisy."

"In the case of Arafat, it appears that he is not liked by certain people and as a result, he will not receive fair treatment because there is no more justice in this world," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Mahathir, who leads a moderate Muslim state whose relations with the United States have improved through his support for the war on terrorism, is a strong supporter of Arafat and the Palestinian cause.

To pressure Israel

He has written to French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and US President George W. Bush asking them to pressure Israel into lifting a 10-day siege on Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Mahathir said he discussed the matter at length with Chirac on the sidelines of the recent Asia-Europe meeting in Copenhagen.

"I get the impression that there is no justice in the world. If we are not liked, anything can to done (to us) irrespective of whether or not it's fair," he said.

"At the moment, the world is not a nice place at all. All this talk about democracy is sheer propaganda. There is no democracy in this world, not even in democratic countries.

M'sia more democratic

"When one talks about democracy, Malaysia is more democratic than most other democratic nations in the world."

The veteran Malaysian leader has warned that if any harm comes to Arafat during the siege it would spark "a great deal of anger" in the Muslim world.

Israel says it will only lift the siege when Arafat hands over some 20 wanted men among the 250 people crammed into his last remaining office building, and has brushed aside a UN resolution and US rebukes. AFP