An opposition leader today joined the worldwide chorus of protests against comments by outgoing Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that "Jews ruled the world by proxy".

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang called on Mahathir to apologise for his anti-Jewish remarks in the opening speech at the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Putrajaya yesterday.

"In all fairness and objectivity, Mahathir's speech is anti-Jewish, offensive and highly objectionable, wins no friends for Malaysia or OIC, and Mahathir himself should be gentleman enough to apologise for the speech," said the opposition leader.

In his wide-ranging speech , which received a standing ovation, Mahathir told leaders from 57 Islamic nations that Muslims had achieved "nothing" in more than 50 years of fighting Israel.

"The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy," Mahathir said.

"They get others to fight and die for them," he said, adding, "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews."

"We cannot fight them through brawn alone, we must use our brains also," he said.

Mahathir also added that the Jews "survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back but by thinking".

"They invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them

would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others."

Disturbing remarks

Lim said that he was not only disturbed by Mahathir's blistering attack on what the prime minister has described as Jewish global domination, but also by the veteran leader's attack on democracy and human rights.

"Mahathir made a veiled but unmistakable attack on democracy and human rights as part of a long-standing Jewish conspiracy, which is not only a great disservice to the 2003 Nobel Peace

Laureate Shirin Ebadi - the first Muslim woman and Iranian recipient honoured by the Norwegian Nobel Committee only last Friday - but also to the legion of advocates of democracy and human rights, whether in Malaysia, the Islamic world or outside," said Lim.

"This is the first time that any leader from Malaysia or the OIC countries has alleged that democracy and human rights are the invention and a conspiracy of the Jewish lobby to advance the Zionist cause, which would imply that the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for the advancement of the cause of peace, democracy and human rights or any commitment to these ideals have dubious origins and promote ignoble ends."

Mahathir's comments have drew a storm of condemnations from the European Union, Germany, United States and Australia.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was earlier reported to have apologised for the controversial remarks by the prime minister, but this was later denied by him.

"I said in Malay that I regretted or felt sad that the speech was taken out of context. In English I said I'm sorry that the speech was taken out of context, that the whole thing was taken out of context," said Syed Hamid today.

"That is not saying I'm sorry for the speech made by the prime minister. I did not say that."