Be a man, stand up and be critised.

Isn't it odd and rude for diplomats and especially for ambassadors to walk out when, as invited guests to a forum, a very prominent international figure speaks ? Such an incident took place recently as reported by the NST.

" Top diplomats from Britain and Hungary walked out on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as he was speaking on human rights here today. At a public lecture organized by Suhakam, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission, Dr Mahathir was roasting the United States and Britain for invading Iraq, referring to their military action as acts of terror", when the diplomats and their officers left the ballroom of the le Meridian Hotel here.

Commenting on the incident later, Dr Mahathir said, " I am sorry, but as much as they have the right to criticize me, I have the right to criticize them. It is their right to walk out if they want".

In his speech, he had said, the two nations had taken it upon themselves to invade Iraq to remove an allegedly authoritarian government. "The results of the invasion is that many more people have been killed and injured than Sadam Hussein was ever accused of ". That was when British High Commissioner Bruce Cleghorn and Hungarian Ambassador Tomas Toth and their officers
left the hall.

Dr Mahathir said the big powers which were supposed to save the Iraqi people had broken international laws on human rights by detaining Iraqis and others and torturing them. "The British and American bomber pilots came, unopposed, safe and cozy in their state-of-the-art aircraft, pressing buttons to drop bombs, to kill and maim real people who were the targets, just targets. And these murderers, for that is what they are, would go back to celebrate ‘mission accomplished’. Who are the terrorists? The people below who were bombed, or the bombers? Whose rights have been snatched away?"

Dr Mahathir said these nations practised not just double standards but multiple standards". As an example, he said, Israel had nuclear weapons, but was provided with bombers to bomb purported nuclear research facilities in other countries. US and Britain invaded Iraq because they claimed it had weapons of mass destruction. But this claim was proved wrong. (extract NST 10/9/05)

What can we say to that ? Of course our Tun is right and has the right to say what is rightfully our right to express our opinion and feelings towards something that has been inhumanly committed by the so-called civilized nations of the world. Just because they have and maintain weapons of destruction themselves, should that give them the right to resort to mass destruction ? What is Iraq today and for that matter Afghanistan too ? The interference and invasions by these nations have totally destroyed the lives of these two conquered nations, which today are no better than what they used to be hundreds of years ago. For Iraq especially, the Islamic artifacts and historical monuments of decades are completely destroyed and possibly looted by these invaders to be placed in their museums ! Sad, very sad indeed !