Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today slammed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for giving a talk on Islamic civilisation and values at a university in Indonesia when he is facing a moral issue.

Dr Mahathir said the PKR de factor leader had no right to deliver a religious lecture because he himself was facing a moral issue.

"If he wants to talk on Islam, he should at least practice its teachings and not do what is forbidden by the religion.

"I'm surprised how (the organisers) could accept a person like him (Anwar) to speak on a topic which he has no right at all to lecture on," he said after receiving an honorary doctorate from Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta today.

Also present at the ceremony was Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia, Zahrain Mohamed Hashim.

Dr Mahathir said many leaders spoke on Islam but their practices and lifestyle were different from that preached by the religion.

The Indonesian media recently reported that Anwar was invited to deliver an executive lecture on 'Islamic values and revival of the Muslim ummah' at the Al-Azhar University, Indonesia campus, in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the former Umno president said the party's top leadership should have handled the Terengganu political crisis carefully, using diplomacy, so that BN would continue to gain the people's trust in administering the state.

Dr Mahathir said if they used a rough approach, it would only invite problems like former Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Said's reaction of quitting the party.

"If we had acted harshly, it would not be a problem for him (Ahmad) to leave Umno. It (situation) is not like in some states like Johor, where Umno is already in the members' blood.

Quitting party not big issue

"In Kelantan, is is difficult for party members to quit PAS or Umno as they have strong faith in their party.

"Both leaders (at the federal and state levels) must accept the fact that mistakes had been made by both sides," he added.

Dr Mahathir said in Terengganu, it was not a big issue for Umno leaders to quit the party compared to those in other states, because "in Terengganu, crossing over to another party is normal and they like to try. They would try to do it in Umno, then in PAS and in Umno again.  

"It's their way, so we have to be careful as they can easily switch (party). It's their character."

Dr Mahathir said the political crisis in Terengganu arose because of the party's weakness.

"Umno is weak now. The feeling of (party members) is that it is focusing less on the problems of the Malay community but more attention being paid on opposition parties, the Chinese community and so on.

"Hence, there is dissatisfaction among the Malays. They support (Umno) not because of the leadership but because they dislike the opposition," he said.

- Bernama