OTTAWA - Opposition members of parliament were furious with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien because he shook hands with his Malaysian counterpart, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, at the Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok.

The handshake occurred just soon after Mahathir told an Islamic summit that Muslims should unite against a few million Jews who "rule the world by proxy."

The Malaysian leader was widely quoted as saying: "The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy.

"They get others to fight and die for them."

Chretien, before leaving the Bangkok summit for an official visit to China and India, said on Canadian television that he had not raised the question of Mahathir's controversial remarks.

He insisted that he simply shook hands with a fellow leader at the summit as a normal courtesy.

"There was no bilateral meeting with him," Chretien said in Bangkok. "I shook hands with him just like everybody else."

Warped views

In Ottawa, left-of-centre New Democrat MP Pat Martin said Chretien should have publicly denounced Mahathir.

Of the Malaysian leader's statements, Martin said: "It is easy to dismiss these remarks as the ravings of a madman. But he is a head of state with status and influence and, as such, his racist lies incite hatred and violence and give licence to too many others who share his warped world views."

On the right, Val Meredith of the Canadian Alliance said: "World leaders from Australia, Germany, Spain and the European Union condemned his (Mohamad's) comments.

"President (George W) Bush took the opportunity to pull him aside and tell him his comments were wrong and divisive." - AFP