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Southeast Asia

Muslim nations strike a discordant note
By K Gajendra Singh

Muslim nations grouped under the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) gathering in Malaysia for the October 16-18 10th session of the Islamic Summit Conference almost unanimously want the withdrawal of United States forces from Iraq.

The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, naturally, wants them to stay put, but so, too, does Pakistan, showing the first signs of dissension reminiscent of non-aligned summits during the Cold War era when countries like Singapore sided with the US, and Cuba with the USSR.

As expected, the main subjects at the summit at Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital, will be the Israeli-Arab conflict, the US-led war and occupation of Iraq, and the conversion of the "war on terrorism" into a war on Islam, according to many Muslims.

The official theme for the summit is "Knowledge and Morality for the Progress of ummah". The theme was chosen to show the importance of knowledge in the development of the ummah.

The outgoing OIC chairman is Qatar, and Abdelouahed Belkeziz, a Moroccan, its secretary general, will retire after a year. The summits are held every three years and up to 57 countries are expected to attend this year's, as well as United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan and non-members such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose countries both have large, sometimes rebellious, Muslim minorities. Muslim leaders last met in Doha, Qatar in 2000, but the international landscape has changed much since then in the wake of September 11, 2001.

China, with its Muslim Uighur population in rebellion, and India, with a Muslim population of 130 million, the second largest in any country after Indonesia and more than the population of half of the OIC members put together, will be absent. This deprives the OIC of a universal character and the right to speak on behalf of all Muslims.

Officials started deliberations on October 11 to prepare for the foreign ministers' meeting, which began on Monday, October 13. Belkeziz warned that the "dangers" confronting Muslims were "unprecedented in [their] contemporary history." He added, "Muslims are filled with feelings of impotence and frustration as some of their countries are occupied, others are under sanctions, a third group threatened and a fourth group accused of sponsoring terrorism. Muslims abroad are considered with suspicion, besieged, deprived of their rights."

Syed Hamid , the foreign minister of Malaysia, said that the meeting was being held at a time characterized by great challenges confronting the Muslim ummah (the Islamic community), such as the threat of unilateralism, globalization and terrorism, the precarious situation in the Middle East and the uncertain future of Iraq. The world, he said, was plagued by simmering disputes, internal conflicts, ethnic strife, dangerous diseases and foreign domination. "Muslim countries have been sidelined. Worst still, we continue to be dominated by the big and powerful."

On Iraq, Syed Hamid, said, "Foreign occupation of the country must be brought to an end as soon as possible. The occupying powers must work in earnest on a timetable for a democratically-elected government to be installed within a reasonably prompt timeframe," with the UN playing a central role. He also condemned Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas and called on Israel to drop any plans to deport or kill Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying his assassination would be "clearly an act of state terrorism".

But Iraq's US-appointed foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, a representative of the country's Kurds, under US protection in north Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War and hence the most loyal of Iraqis, said that any American withdrawal would be gradual. In any case, he added, other countries had reacted coolly to his request for soldiers to help stabilize Iraq. Zebari said that Muslim countries would have an opportunity to actively help in Iraq's reconstruction when donor countries meet in Madrid later this month to discuss infrastructure projects.

Pakistan's foreign minister, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, said that it was unrealistic to demand the US to pull out. "Nobody's asked for that, neither France nor Germany, people are not so unrealistic," Kasuri said. "After all, the US has 150,000 troops [in Iraq]. Who's going to come up with all that? What we are talking of is international legality - I don't see other countries coming with such large numbers of troops."

While Pakistan was reportedly pushing for discussions on creating an OIC contingent, acting under UN auspices, Syed Hamid said, "The OIC is not an organization that is a military bloc, neither is our charter formatted to allow us to form an OIC force to operate."

A Jordanian representative, Musa Braiza, said that the OIC leaders would not discuss the divisive issue of peacekeeping forces this week. Strangely, on his way to the summit, King Abdullah of Jordan, a close US ally, speaking in Singapore, said that neighbors such as his own country or Turkey should not get involved. "No border country should play an active role because all have an agenda. It is not in the interests of Iraq as its neighbors can't be honest," he added. Turkey has already approved sending as many as 10,000 of its troops to Iraq.

On other key issues set before the summit, OIC senior officials, for example, gave their full backing to Syria, following an Israeli air strike on its territory a week ago, "affirming solidarity with and support for the leadership of Syria against the unjust aggression they are going through".

Belkeziz enumerated the "challenges" facing the Islamic religion worldwide, namely terrorism, globalization, human rights and the campaigns against Islam and Muslims. Other issues were "the situation in Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir, the situation of Muslims in Azerbaijan, the Philippines and Somalia, as well as the economic situation in the Islamic world in many others," he added.

Belkeziz said, "The United Nations should take over the administration of Iraqi affairs in accordance with a clear and short timetable. As I speak we are still under the strain of extremely difficult challenges and unprecedented threats to our countries' sovereignty, security and courses." He called on members to confront the dangers to the Islamic ummah. In Palestine, he added, "the situation continues to deteriorate in the face of Israeli government's obduracy to fulfill the obligations demanded of it by the roadmap. It continues to be entrenched in its illegal practices of punishing the Palestinian people and of confiscating their property, attempting to coerce them through means abhorrent to international law and international human rights law."

Role of Mahathir Mohamed
The location of the meeting away from the Middle East, which will be presided over by Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamed, 77, a feisty and fearless leader, should give some sense of direction and add some steel to the OIC's declarations. A majority of OIC states are either US clients or can be easily pressurized by the US and Western interests, unlike Mahathir, who has stood up to Western bullying and who withstood Western speculators running on his country's economy during the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis. And his policies were proved right, which even Western financial institutions had to sheepishly admit. He retires from politics at the end of October, but it is hoped that he will continue to lead the OIC for the next three years, although he told the BBC on October 12 that he would not.

Even before the conference, the outspoken Mahathir said that the OIC would have little influence as long as US politicians supported Israel. "We can go to war, but we have no capacity to go to war. That's the problem. We [Muslims] have allowed ourselves to become weak. People bully us," Mahathir added. He suspected that the Israeli raid on a Syrian target was a ploy to encourage Washington to harden its already tough line against Damascus.

"Israel has been urging America to invade Syria and America seems to be reluctant," Mahathir said. "So in order to force the hand of the Americans, Israel invades Syria and the Americans will have to support it. Otherwise the candidates for presidency in the US will lose the Jewish vote," Mahathir added.

He also urged not to chase the shadow instead of the prey. "I am not interested in blaming others," Mahathir said recently. "I am interested in what we, as Muslims, can do for ourselves."

Conference of young Muslim leaders
As a buildup to the summit, an international conference of young Muslim leaders was organized at the end of September in Malaysia, where the themes discussed were education, development and religious tolerance. Here, Mahathir was at his bellicose best. He said that Muslims should master science so the world of Islam can stand up to the West. "We need modern weapons. We need tanks, battleships, fighter planes, knowledge of rockets," he told the delegates. "These are the weapons that can strike fear into the hearts of our enemies and defend us."

Malaysia was a staunch opponent of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and initially opposed participation of the US-appointed Governing Council, its puppet administration, at the OIC meeting. But Arab states prevailed on Malaysia to let council take part, insisting that Iraq is in transition.

There is always a joker in the pack of 57; Pakistan, which raises the Kashmir dispute even at meteorological conferences. It will press OIC members to renew resolutions on Kashmir calling on India to resume dialogue on the "disputed territory". "We will raise the Kashmir issue in the meeting," said a Pakistan spokesman In Islamabad.

A few days earlier, Syed Hamid of Malaysia told a news conference that the US could not expect significant Muslim peacekeepers as long as Americans were running the show. "You cannot have peacekeeping by countries who are Muslim, led by the Americans and the coalition forces. It must be done under the umbrella of the United Nations."

Ironically, the US-appointed Governing Council, with little support among the Iraqi people, is opposed to troops from neighboring countries being allowed in Iraq, although the US has pressured, cajoled and bribed Turkey to send its troops. Syed Hamid said, "The Iraqis are not happy. The most important thing is not sending troops. You must have acceptability by the country. You're supposed to be bringing democracy and stability."

A statement read in early October by the permanent representative of Malaysia to the UN on behalf of his minister Syed Hamid at the OIC's annual coordination meeting of foreign affairs ministers at the UN headquarters in New York said, "We have to renew our collective commitment to change this situation. We must strive for the economic and social development of OIC member states," He said that the number of Islamic countries suffering from the problem of underdevelopment was a cause for concern. "We note that 38.6 percent of OIC member states are in the category of least developed countries. Our commitment must be translated into unity and proper coordination in facing challenges and advancing common positions in these fields. We must be able to fully utilize the UN to the advantage of the members of our organization."

Referring to another area of concern for both the OIC and the UN and the efforts to combat terrorism, he said, "We must play our own constructive role in all UN efforts to combat terrorism, especially since recent terrorist attacks have impacted negatively on Islam and the Islamic world. OIC countries have to work together to dispel the misconception that Islam and Muslims were associated with violence and terrorism."

In the past seven months, Malaysia has chaired the non-aligned movement, an organization of 116 nations. Mahathir, during a meeting in June with G8 leaders in Paris, coordinated the viewpoints of the member countries on many important issues. Malaysia has undergone astounding socio-economic development, and as such many countries in the OIC look to it as a role model "worth emulating".

They have high expectations from Malaysia as chairman of OIC. Many feel that more resources should be made available to the OIC secretariat and greater authority delegated to it. The OIC should set up a media channel of its own, which could articulate the views of the member countries. Suggestions have been made to even raise a peacekeeping force for rapid deployment to any Muslim country to diffuse tensions so as to preempt external interference.

OIC conference on science and technology
A few days before the summit, Kuala Lumpur hosted an OIC conference on science and technology to discuss the challenges for Muslim countries in this field. The four-day conference emphasized strategies and mechanism for industrial and economic development in Muslim countries and capacity-building, as well as science and technology policies and priorities.

Organizing committee chairman Salleh Mohd Noor said more initiatives were needed to address the challenges posed by the accelerating pace of technological development and globalization. "We are living in a time of rapid changes, and success in meeting these challenges will depend on the ability of member countries to shape and steer the demands of the new environment. Given the commitment, conviction and collaboration, the Muslim world can reclaim its past glory," he said in a press statement.

It was proposed that a pan-Islamic research and development fund be created "with member countries to contribute 0.1 percent of their GNP annually towards the fund to set up world-class centers of excellence in different fields of science and technology, such as biotechnology, engineering sciences, pharmaceuticals, information technology, material sciences and others. An inter-ministerial council will govern the fund. It was also proposed to restructure the OIC. The ummah was recognized as being at an important crossroad in its history and it needed "to emerge from the present apathy of ignorance, illiteracy, lack of scientific expertise and lack of technological development".

Last year, a group of Arab researchers in a report for the UN underlined the real causes of the sad state of the ummah: the absence of an enterprise economy, lack of social and political freedoms, and, more specifically, the refusal of most Muslim countries to offer women equal rights and opportunities. Almost all countries have failed on all scores.

Isolation of Turkey
There is nothing unusual in Turkey coming under attack at the OIC. Previously in Doha, then president Suleyman Demirel left the summit before the close because of Arab criticism of Turkey's defense alliance with Israel. This time, it is under fire because of its agreement to send troops to Iraq.

Turkish delegate Tahsin Burcuoglu has responded by saying that although Ankara would have liked a UN mandate to help restore order in neighboring Iraq, it was more important to act. "We decided to do something. Of course, it is easy for us to stay away, to criticize, to say that the occupation should end." When questioned whether Turkish troops would definitely not be deployed in the Kurdish north, where Turkey is regarded with deep suspicion, Burcuoglu said, "No. We already have troops there, we will not be sending any more." Turkey is concerned that any moves of Iraq's Kurds to establish an independent or autonomous region will fire its own Kurds, who have been engaged in such a struggle for many years. Also, many Turkish Kurds have taken refuge in Kurdish Iraq. Thus, Turkey already has troops in the region to keep a check on events.

OIC-EU joint forum
It was Turkey, a secular republic with over 99 percent Muslim population, which tried to build bridges between Anglo-American administrations and the Muslim ummah in February. This effort was derided and dismissed by the Anglo-American leadership and the Western media.

Turkey organized a joint forum of the OIC and the Europe Union (EU) from February 12 -13 in Istanbul. While the Christian world has many forums and organizations to fine tune its plans and strategies, eg the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G8 and others, the Muslims have remained as disunited as ever. After September 11, apart from some desultory statements by leaders of some Arab or Muslim countries, or the Arab League and the OIC, there has been little coordinated planning to face the new challenges of the new century.

The OIC and historic divisions in the Muslim ummah The OIC, or Munazamat al-Mutamir al-Islami, to give its full Arabic name, was institutionalized in 1971 by the Saudis, after summits of Muslim heads of state and government in 1969, and by Muslim foreign ministers in 1970, following the 1969 fire in the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third most revered Islamic site after Mecca and Medina.

The holy city of Jerusalem, which both Israel and Palestine claim as their capital, has been contested violently throughout history by the adherents of three revealed and warring religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Attempts to liberate it by Christian religious leaders, emperors, kings and others led to eight major and many minor crusades in the early centuries of the second millennium. It is some irony that it was the fire at the al-Aqsa mosque, an act of Israeli omission, that brought the Muslim ummah under one umbrella. Its unity under the Sunni caliph was first broken when Shi'ites anointed their own caliph, first in Tunisia, then in Egypt.

The seeds of disunity in the embryonic Muslim ummah were sown as soon as the Prophet Mohammed lay dead. While his cousin and son-in- law Ali and family were preparing the body for burial, another clan of the Qurayesh tribe elected Abubakr as the first caliph. (According to Shi'ites, the Prophet Mohammed had given enough indications for Ali to be his successor ). The schism (Shi'ite) was complete when the Muawiya clan fought with Ali. Among Muslims, there is not even agreement on the caliphs. Shi'ites do not recognize the first three caliphs, and in many places abuse them. The two after Abubakr's natural death - Omar and Othman - died of violence, as did Ali, the first rightful caliph and imam according to Shi'ites. Ali's son Hussein and almost his entire entourage were martyred by the soldiers of Umayyad Sunni Caliph Yazid at Karbala in 680, which is now commemorated as Moharram. Almost all early imams were maltreated and persecuted by the Sunnis.

The aims of the OIC: Failures and divisions
The OIC aims to promote Islamic solidarity by coordinating social, economic, scientific and cultural activities. It is also pledged to eliminate racial segregation and discrimination. Unfortunately, it has not evolved into a responsible and creative body.

A main reason for the failure is the location of OIC offices in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and a shortage of funds, with many countries not paying their dues. So Saudi Arabia funds it, as they have funded madrassas (religious schools) and fundamentalist organizations not only in non-Muslim but even in Muslim countries.

Countries like Egypt, Algeria and many in Central Asia and elsewhere are victims of fundamentalist violence incubated and unleashed from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, which was financially supported in the 1980s and later by kingdoms and sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf, apart from the US. Until September 11, when the majority of the hijackers turned out to be of Saudi origin, the US could not care less and had encouraged fundamentalism, even after the era of Arab socialism and nationalism had faded away.

The OIC has had little autonomy as the secretary generals were more or less paid employees of Saudi Arabia. Some of them were obscure and not well regarded scholars, which greatly diminished the OIC's objectivity and credibility. Any debate on matters of substance is almost impossible at OIC meetings.

Member countries bring chits of paper with grouses against non- Muslims, mostly neighbors, which without any discussion, as is the practice back home, are then put together as final resolutions. Unfortunately, many in the leadership use OIC meetings to let off steam against non-Muslims, which serves like a group therapy session. It brings a sense of wellbeing to many beleaguered regimes; venal, brutal and exploitative back home. The leaders go back flourishing a resolution or two to show to their oppressed masses, hoping that the real problems will be forgotten.

In many ways, the OIC is a curious collection. Many members have been accused of conspiring against each other. They have fought wars with each other. Many OIC members and diplomats from secular countries like Turkey, Syria, Algeria and Iraq feel uncomfortable in the company of delegates from obscurantist regimes.

To begin with, secular Turkey did not take the OIC seriously. It was to counter Muslim countries' support to (Greek) Cypriots in non-aligned forums and elsewhere that Turkey started sending senior officials to the summit. And then after 1973 the Arabs became very rich. To the author's query as to how could secular Turkey subscribe to religion-oriented parts of OIC declarations, Turkish diplomats would sheepishly reply that they formally send a letter protesting that the parts of a declaration that are against Turkey's secular constitution are not acceptable.

Some countries, like Syria, Iraq, Indonesia and Malaysia, even make reservations on resolutions on Muslims in the Philippines, or the Pakistan stand on Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, where Muslims are in the majority but the area they occupy is only 20 percent of the state. But these and other such facts are hardly discussed. In any case, Kashmir had free and successful elections last year, which most OIC members do not have. Kashmir now suffers primarily because of cross-border terrorism.

The OIC is not even universal. King Hassan of Morocco invited India for the 1969 summit in Rabat, which transformed itself later into the OIC. But after Pakistan ruler General Yahya Khan threatened to walk out, an embarrassed king apologized and requested Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (later to become India's president ) not to attend the meeting. After Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan in 1971, India, with more Muslims than Pakistan, still remains unrepresented - but the OIC has the temerity to speak on behalf of India's 130 million Muslims.

The OIC also speaks on behalf of large Muslim populations in Russia and China, and many other millions in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the US, which has 3 to 5 million Muslims. But the OIC says little about the conditions of Muslims in these countries. It has in many ways become a tool for Pakistani propaganda against India and for Saudi Arabia's nefarious activities of promoting fundamentalism in other countries, as the US found out on September 11.

The OIC calls for self determination in countries where Muslims are in a minority, and even invites their leaders. Yet organizations of Uighurs from Xinjiang, persecuted by China, or US Muslim leaders like Farrah Khan, are not invited. And will the OIC allow interference over the persecution of religious minorities in Islamic states, say by the Christian world, or even say by Iran for its Shi'ite brethren in Sunni-dominated Pakistan.

Even Turkish democracy is shored up by its secular military, which has dismissed Islamist-led coalition governments, closed Islamic parties regularly and jailed its leadership. And what about the discrimination and persecution of Kurds in Turkey, where during the past two decades over 35,000 people, including 5,000 soldiers, have been killed. Until not too long ago they had to be called mountain Turks, and could not use Kurdish for education or in the media. From time to time, Shi'ite Alevis have to be protected against persecution and pogroms by the Sunni establishment of the secular armed forces and the judiciary. Only recently, changes in harsh laws have been made to prepare Turkey to join the Europe Union, but Europe is watching implementation of the laws on the ground. The OIC would not like it if Kurdish, Mohajir, Christian leaders (from Lebanon and South Sudan ) or perpetually persecuted Copts of Egypt, or disgruntled Shi'ite leaders of Saudi Arabia were invited to air their grievances at international and regional forums.

In Cyprus, 18 percent Turkish Cypriot Muslims, recognized as an independent state only by Turkey, has occupied nearly 40 percent of its territory under Turkish guns since 1974. They cannot live with Christian Greek Cypriots, and want a separate state, while almost 50 percent Christian Lebanese who want a state of their own are denied one. Coptic Christians in Egypt, with the same percentage as Muslims in India, remain oppressed and persecuted. Christian Sudanese in the south of the country are bombed and killed. Christians from Lebanon, Sudan, Egypt and elsewhere have to lump it. There are innumerable such tragic and sad examples all over the Islamic world. Throughout history, Christian and other minorities in Islamic states have been generally oppressed, persecuted and eliminated, beginning with the Jews of Medina in the 7th century.

With different versions of Islam and interests, it is almost impossible for the OIC to take or implement a united stand. Many times, even meetings cannot be organized. Calls for breaking relations with Israel are ignored. Egypt and Jordan are too dependent on the US for their economic and strategic survival. So are most Arab Gulf kingdoms on the US, Israel's steadfast ally, and Turkey has a strategic alliance with Israel.

Turkey has had an almost open military alliance with Israel since 1996. Military exercises with Israel and the US are regularly carried out. All central Asian Turkic-speaking states have good relations with Israel. With ample energy resources, Azerbaijan in the Caucasus was even visited some years ago by then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Baku used the Israeli connection to establish direct links with the Jewish lobby in the US to counteract the Armenian lobby in the US. Not only to counter Arab oil power, even for survival, Western powers may have to rely on the vast energy resources in the Caspian basin.

Conclusion
As Amir Taheri noted in the Arab News of October 10, "At first glance this is going to be one of those futile gatherings where exercises in oratory and meaningless resolutions are presented as substitutes for measured judgment. Fingers of blame will be pointed at all and sundry, making the owners of the fingers feel good without having to face the arduous task of serious analysis and sober policy-making. But need the Kuala Lumpur summit be an exercise in futility? The answer is, not necessarily. There are - reasons for some hope that the summit might pose the real questions and go beyond diplomatic gesticulations."

Let us keep our fingers crossed. In spite of its undistinguished history, except for promoting a regressive view of a great religion and Islamic fundamentalism based on a skewed understanding of the political aspect of Islam because of malevolent Saudi influence, the OIC remains the only and the most representative organization for Muslims. Under the able leadership of Mahathir, if he agrees, the OIC should get down to the task of preparing its suffering masses for the 21st century, on a path away from obscurity towards economic progress. The Malaysian prime minister and his country are a very good example for Muslim nations and masses. He can also stand up to the West, especially the US. The Muslim ummah should not live on dreams of past glories and must wake up, and under the OIC umbrella do some internal restructuring to face historic challenges. The pervasive crisis that the ummah and the whole world is undergoing is not going to fade away.

It would be a good idea if the OIC could perhaps shift its location from Jedda to Kuala Lumpur or Istanbul, or even Tunisia. Arabs only total 200 million, whereas nearly a billion Muslims live in Asia. The OIC should also make itself more universal. It cannot presume to speak on behalf of those who are not represented, like 130 million Indian Muslims and Muslims from Russia, China, the US, Germany, France and elsewhere. Otherwise, it has no right to speak on behalf of the Muslim ummah. It will remain as fractured as it has been since the 10th century, if not earlier, and become even more irrelevant.

K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Email Gajendrak@hotmail.com

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Oct 16, 2003

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