PUTRAJAYA, Mar 15 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged world governments today to understand the reasons behind terrorists committing terror attacks in order to combat them better.
According to him, conventional warfare methods can no longer apply as terrorism has no borders, and that governments do not always know where it will strike.
“The best way to fight terrorism is to understand why these terrorists fight. Once you do, then can you try to remove the reasons for them to fight,” he said during the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia membership card hand-over ceremony to former Sabah Umno members here.
“I have written to the prime minister of England about this, saying that fighting terrorism is not like fighting a war,” he added.
It is not clear if Dr Mahathir was referring to the current prime minister Theresa May, or one of her predecessors Tony Blair, who was in office at the time when Dr Mahathir ended his first tenure as prime minister in 2003.
He said Malaysia has been fortunate in this respect, as its intelligence gathering on terrorist activities has been good.
“Due to this we are able to handle such people now,” he said.
In September last year, Dr Mahathir had then told the United Nations (UN) that global terrorism can end if Palestine is recognised and Israel is stopped.
His remarks come in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand earlier today, which claimed 49 lives and left 20 seriously injured. One Malaysian citizen was injured in the attacks while another still remains missing.
