How can the people know that the opposition is not backed by the devil, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad asks.

He also questioned how PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang ( below ) would know that Barisan Nasional is backed by the devil. And, Mahathir went on to suggest, the Islamic party leader may himself be backed by the devil.

NONE "He (Hadi) and the opposition may be backed by the devil himself. He himself is working with the devil. That is the devil that I know.

"He himself is working with that devil," Mahathir repeated.

Mahathir said this when asked to comment on Hadi’s comments, during the recent PAS muktamar in Kota Bharu, that a party backed by the devil cannot administer and uphold the rule of law in the country.

Although the PAS president did not name the party, most people believe he was referring to the BN and Umno, especially so after Mahathir's blog posting touched on the matter.

In his August posting, Mahathir had suggested that it was better for the people to elect the devil they know rather than the angel whom the people may not know.

Asked to comment on calls for Abdul Hadi to be prime minister should the opposition win the next general election, Mahathir said the latter is free to become PM if he and they can win.

“He (Abdul Hadi) is more qualified than Anwar (Ibrahim), as he does not carry any excess or historical baggage. But he should win first,” he said.

On whether Abdul Hadi’s win will get the support of the Malays, Mahathir mocked Karpal Singh. Stating saying if the DAP chairperson puts on his turban, he would be as qualified as Nik Aziz (Nik Mat, PAS spiritual adviser).

“ Sama serban pun ada, janggut pun ada (He has a turban, and beard) what else do we want?” he jested.

Mahathir was speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the International Conference on War-Affected Children organised by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

‘Malaysia allows press freedom’

The former premier also said that the people in the United States are also not getting the proper news on the role of their country and the damage that they had done to Iraq, Afghanistan and also backing Israel in the Gaza conflict as those mostly affected are civilians, including innocent children.

He said the US as the policeman of the world and also promoting their values and freedom of expression, has been blanking out such reports from its people, resulting in them not knowing such facts although they claimed to practice freedom of the press.

“In Bosnia, as we see in this conference they were pressured into not seeking international justice when the Serbs raped 40,000 of their womenfolk (during the Balkan war) but this was not reported,” he said.

“They are not bad people, but they are deprived of the truth and they support the wicked things that are being done by their own government. So please highlight the atrocities that they are doing in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere,” he said.

Here in Malaysia, Mahathir said, we allow press freedom as we do allow press like Sin Chew Jit Poh, Harakah, China Press and Malaysiakini.com to report as long as they do not report on racial issues which could cause tensions.

“We have to be careful with ethnic conflicts. If they report such ethnic issues to the point they want to fight each other or demonstrate, we will censure that. But otherwise, people are free to read those papers. We do not censure. If they report stirring up people to fight each other then the journalist should be jailed,” he said.

However, he noted that the laws of the country (like the Publications and Printing Presses Act 1984)  had been amended.

‘Ceasefire will not last’

Mahathir also commented that he did not think the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza would last long as the Israelis are backed by the US, who are bent in causing war as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The ceasefire is after they killed more than 126 people and there is no guarantee that it would last long. The US being the superpower is backing them (the Israelis) as they supply them with weapons.

“He said for the US, it would take a long time to tell their people what they are doing (in supplying arms to Israel) is wrong. In Britian, they know more compared to the US people now,” he said.

Meanwhile, geneticist Paola Manduca from Italy, who is one of the speakers, said her studies showed that a rise of birth defects by two-fold in 2010 in war-torn Gaza and also Baghdad had been reported .

This, she said, is due to the weapons used on them and there are signs or effects of white phosphorous in them, including children.

“This will be there in the children, and in their children later on and in future generations,” he said.

Another speaker, lawyer Professor Francis Anthony Boyle from the University of Illinois, who had represented Bosnia Herzogovina in war crimes tribunals, recounted how the Bosnians were pressured not to file a complaint that 40,000 of their women had been raped following international pressure.

Boyle said that the purpose of countries like Israel attacking people including civilians and children was to ensure that such nations attacked would not have a future.

“Sanctions were imposed on Iraq during the 1990s resulting in the death of 500,000 children. I have asked the Iraqi authorities namely then-president Saddam Hussein and the deputy prime minister to take action. But they decided not to,” he pointed out.

Mahathir had voiced that in war, not only soldiers but also children who are innocent bystanders are affected.

The patron for the International Conference on War-Affected Children, Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, said War Crime Clubs would be formed in schools starting with Tunku Kurshiah College and the Cempaka Schools, to create awareness at a young age that war is wrong.