War Criminal Conference & Exhibition
[Dewan Merdeka, PWTC, Kuala Lumpur]
Key Note Speech - Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammed
- Greetings and salutations by the speaker
- The video just now - not possible not to be touched by the scenes - it is very loud, but war is very loud - that is the sound of war, war is noisy and war kills
- PLF - opened an office -to contact and coordinate - to change perception - that war should be changed to peace
- Killing people - is a crime in all civilised societies - even if it is justified - still is a crime, a murder. Feel strongly - about taking someone's life
- Civil human society - advanced societies - killing in war - legitimate - terrible contradiction - to the feeling that other types of murder is wrong. Murder is never right, irregardless of the situation - therefore, all kinds of murder is wrong
- Would you kill a person - that you do not know - that did no wrong to you, in full view of everyone? Would you want to be the victim - you do not want to be either - do not kill someone with retribution.
- The community of nations that we call the world - condone - mass killings of people - far from punishing the killers - give them even more rights to the most prolific killers
- The people who talk about human rights - spend trillions of dollars - to kill more people, and they do this in the name of human rights - can there be any greater hypocrisy than this?
- Killing hundreds and thousands of people - carrying out an achieve an objective - what is considered a noble objective?
- Wars in self-defense - should be permissible - imperfect world, imperfect civilisation. However, if there is no aggression, what necessity of there for war in defense?
- If there is no aggression, there will no be war.
- Unrealistic to abolish war - as it has been used to settle disputes. But does not mean war is always the option of settling disputes - kill people to solve problems? Whole nations will be wiped out due to the powerful weapons available now, and in the future, if wars were to occur
- We cannot rigidly pass values - human rights, cannot be passed along without considering the context
- Advanced nations - Manufacturing weapons to hold war in space. The toll of war 7000 years ago - low. But now, kill non-combatants, the defenseless - can wipe out whole cities in 24 hours - Dresden, Germany - carpet bombing. An atomic bomb can vapourise cities in seconds. Now, the places atomic bombs - affecting people who come later, and it spreads further through dust and wind. The killers will be killed too.
- Depleted uranium - capable of producing particles - as would a nuclear bomb explosion - pollutes the air - far away places - including the perpetrating countries
- Video - dangers of depleted uranium weapon - political agenda, genetic effect
- Nuclear powers - only they can be trusted to posses nuclear weapons - why? Are they sensible people who will not use the nuclear weapons? The carnage they cause with conventional weapons - high toll - the nuclear weapons they own will have even more worse consequences - they are using depleted uranium. They are adding to their nuclear arsenal - better and more nuclear weapon sources. Yet they insisted that no one else can own nuclear weapons
- US - dominate the space dimension of military operation - protect US interests and investment. Space wars are inevitable - Vision 2020
- The civilised world - might choose a mad man as their leaders - placed in charge of WMDs and nuclear weapons. Should the world allow this?
- The other smaller countries that are able to accumulate some nuclear powers were warned not to use them (although they are not capable of an arms build-up as the bigger countries) - otherwise these countries will be destroyed by conventional or nuclear weapons
- The NPT - Nuclear non proliferation treaty - the countries which are demanding for it, are not implementing it themselves - refuse to be subjected to the pre-conditions - second and first class citizens?
- Powerful against weak, that preceded the terror attacks of the weak against the strong - not as portrayed in media. The weak - are not able to reply in kind, to defend themselves - the toll of terrorism is not as high of the wars. Not sanctioning terrorism, but the terrors caused by the powerful countries are inflicting more damage than suicide bombs. War is LEGITIMISED TERRORISM.
- The nuclear weapons - damage way beyond the war zones. The retaliation of the victims - not confined to the war zones - eg: New York and Bali. War, suicidal attacks - occur everywhere. The world - ensure an endless state of war between the powerful and the weak - if there is a let up in security - there will be war
- We cannot anticipate and prepare for the destruction - we need to criminalise war.
- World power and hegemony - but travel advisory - citizens of the world's super power are prisoners of their own country. Increasing cost of power and hegemony, due to security of concerns.
- Terror - is faceless - cannot define a terrorist - can be anyone. Win the hearts and minds- of the enemy - an effective way - save lives and win wars
- Removal of the causes of war - the hearts and minds of the people - in the Middle East - is one - can solve the war in Middle East. Admit that you are wrong when you are wrong, being in denial helps no one - establishing yourselves as the hatred if you do not admit that you are wrong.
- Sanctions and other acts - exercised by the General Assembly of the UN, not just the Security Council. Sanctions and other acts - should be by unanimous votes - because powerful countries - use veto that makes other people's opinions useless
- No country - should go on its own, go on the defense of the attacked country - ratified by the UN
- Quality and regard of human life - improved in modern times. Wars, however has become less and less human.
- War of Iraq - international conventions do not apply - claimed the attackers
- In today's wars, people are treated like animals - PoWs' status - has degraded - PoW's are dehumanised, torture is legitimized for PoWs