Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said Malaysia was successful in combating terrorism because the government did not rely solely on the use of arms but also launched a campaign that won the hearts and minds of the people.

The government studied the causes for the disaffection among these terrorists and their supporters and then took remedial action, he added.

This measure was successful in quelling the communist uprising, the premier said at the Conference on Terrorism held in Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Mahathir said Malaysia defeated the terrorists after 42 years when the communists surrendered in 1989.

Explaining further, Mahathir said the decision to accord citizenship rights to over a million non-Malays at that time was a means to win the loyalty of disaffected people and to get them to join in the war against the terrorists.

"This act and others helped to mobilise the people of Malaysia to defeat the terrorists," he added.

Spawning terrorism

Meanwhile, speaking about the war in Afghanistan, Mahathir said the military action may actually result in spawning more terrorists.

The killing of the Afghan people and the destruction of that country is likely to anger a lot of Muslims, he added.

"And of the many millions of angry Muslims there would be quite a few who would join the ranks of the terrorists and be willing to die to avenge what is to them a gross injustice and cruelty," said Mahathir.

"And so the bombings and rocketing of Afghanistan, far from progressing the war to eliminate terrorists would actually result in the spawning of more terrorists," he explained.

Among the participants of the two-day conference which began today are government ministers, members of the opposition, academics and those from the private sector.

The conference is organised by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia.