Former Malaysia's prime minister Mahathir Mohamad smiles as he speaks at his office in Putrajaya outside Kuala. The man who made Malaysia part of the "East Asia Miracle" with a massive inflow of foreign direct investment doesn't think much of it today. Reuters/Bazuki Muhammad
In a barbed comment aimed at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), former Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad said those who kill by dropping bombs from the air were as much terrorists as those who blow up explosive-laden suicide vests. In context of the Arab uprising
and NATO intervention in Libya, the former Malaysian PM said, “There are two kinds of terrorists. One is state-determined. The others are freelancers.”
He added the West ought to make a distinction between Arab nations where there is total rebellion against dictatorial regimes and ones where rebellions were not widespread but localised.
NATO’s interference in Libya is motivated by vested interests of its member countries, he added. htc