Make Wars Of Aggression A Crime, Says Dr Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Make wars of aggression a crime as it would result in less wars and less need for defence, founder and chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said tonight.
Dr Mahathir said war made beasts of ordinary men and women, and the cruelties perpetrated were beyond imagination. "Yet they are perpetrated by ordinary human beings who have been trained by civilised governments to kill. Perhaps there is a case for defensive war. But if we make wars of aggression a crime, there will be less wars and less need for defence," he said at the royal charity dinner and launching of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here.
The foundation was launched by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin.
Also present were Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.
Expressing his sadness over innocent women and children who became the war victims, Dr Mahathir said people needed to understand the horrors of war and to be concerned about the fate of the young victims. "Yet we all, every single human society regard killing a crime, a crime so serious that it warrants the harshest of punishment. How do we reconcile this with the legitimacy of killing people on a massive scale, in their hundreds of thousand, accompanied by extensive destruction to towns and cities?," he said.
Meanwhile, the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War Royal Charity Dinner Committee chairman, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, in her speech, said the dinner was to raise funds to carry out the foundation's voluntary programmes on a national and global basis as well as to acquire a suitable premises to serve as the foundation's headquarters.
"Your kind and generous support will certainly contribute immensely to the foundation's voluntary work to create awareness among the public that war as an instrument of foreign policy is a crime, a crime against humanity, against peace and the whole mankind," she said.
The foundation was established last year to provide assistance and relief to victims of war as well as promote education of individuals and communities suffering from the effects of war or armed conflict.