➡ James Corbett, a reporter, recently attended a conference in Malaysia that marked the 20th anniversary of the Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalize War. He interviewed former Malaysian Prime Minister, Tuned Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, who led the initiative. They discussed the need to solve conflicts between nations through peaceful means like negotiation and arbitration, rather than war. Dr. Mahathir expressed concern that despite the devastating effects of war, many nations continue to prepare for it, suggesting that this could inevitably lead to conflict.

Welcome, friends. James Corbett here, CorbettReports.com, coming to you, as always, from the sunny climes of Western Japan. Although, as you may be able to tell from my attire, I just flew in from Malaysia. If you’d like to know why I was in Malaysia, then I highly suggest you check out my recently released podcast episode on War is a Crime, in which you’ll see the proceedings of the conference that I was attending there in Kuala Lumpur, specifically a conference commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalize War. If you’d like to know more about that, please do check out that podcast episode where you can see my complete speech to that conference, which I have been informed by multiple people was a powerful and moving speech, the audio of which left something to be desired in the recording.

But the complete transcript of that speech is now available on CorbettReports.com, so I suggest that you do check that out. And when you do, you’ll note that that episode also included a snippet of my interview with former Malaysian Prime Minister Tuned Dr. Mahathir Mohammed. Well, in the interest of putting everything on the record, I’d like to present that entire conversation, in which we talk, of course, about Mahathir’s spearheading of the initiative to criminalize war, as well as his trips to Japan, his 100th birthday, and other subjects besides. I think it’s an interesting conversation.

I hope you enjoy. Hello, this is James Corbett of CorbettReport.com, reporting for globalresearch.ca here in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. And today I’m talking to former Malaysian Prime Minister Tuned Dr. Mahathir Mohammed. Tuned Dr. Mahathir, thank you very much for your time today. You’re welcome. So we are sitting here on the cusp of the 20th anniversary of the Kuala Lumpur initiative to criminalize war. I’m sure some of my audience knows about that initiative. Some of my audience might not know. So can you explain what that initiative is and how it came about? Well, this was many years after the end of the Second World War.

And we read reports about how many people killed, how much damage was done during the war. And we think that the killing people in order to solve conflicts between nations is not the way to go. There are other ways. There are peaceful ways, like negotiation, arbitration, or even referring to a court of law. That is the proper civilized way of solving problems of conflicts between nations. But we still believe many people, the big powers, still believe killing people is the way to solve problems. And they must know that they fought and killed millions of people.

At the end, everybody suffers. The winners and the losers also suffer. So that is not the way of solving conflicts. Negotiation means you have the same result as going to war. You either win or lose, or it’s not satisfactory, but nobody will kill. And no damage is done. I mean, we consider ourselves civilized. And yet we are still very primitive in the sense that conflicts are solved today by killing people. So that is why we launched the movement to make war a crime, criminalize war. But I must say that it’s very difficult going.

Not many people subscribe to this. People still think of building huge military forces and preparing for war. In one sense, I think it’s such a simple idea that I think everyone understands. Killing is wrong. Murder is wrong. I think almost everyone understands that. But for some reason, people think that it is different when you put on a uniform and you do it for your country. Can you tell us about that? What do you think is that disconnect that people have? There is an effort to glorify war. They don’t talk about the killing, the damage, the pain, and the wounds that are inflicted during war.

They talk about the glory of war. People get medals, get titles, because they fought a war. But war is about killing people. What’s the good of getting medals if you are a dead man anyway? In the whole country is damaged. Millions of people are killed. I mean, it’s not glory, but they glorify war, putting on uniforms and marching and showing how great they are. Yes, when you march, it looks grand, but when you are fighting, it’s just about trying to avoid the enemy’s bullet, because if you don’t kill the enemy, the enemy will kill you.

That is what they believe in. So you must kill the enemy. You know, he has done nothing wrong to you. He has not done anything against you, but you are required to kill. And now the way of killing is so efficient that we can wipe out 100,000 people with just one bomb. Just imagine a war where people use nuclear weapons. The whole world will be depopulated. No living creatures will survive. That is what war is about now. And yet people are still prepared for war. They have these nuclear warheads, and they are looking forward to testing the new weapons.

And they have to find some place where they can test the new weapons. So they are provocative. They think that war is the solution. War is not a solution. Dr. Mahatir, you have been a world leader. You’ve talked at the highest levels to people from all around the world. How many people have you talked to that understand and share your point of view and are willing to make the kind of public declaration that you are on this? Most leaders do not talk about war, but they prepare for war. When we talk to them, they don’t talk about the need to have peace in the world.

They talk about stability and all that. Yes, that is good. But even at the expense of losing stability of disruption of war, they still prepare for war. And when they prepare for war, eventually they will have war. Now that we’re at 20 years from the initial declaration, what has changed? Has there been any progress? I think things have gone worse. Nowadays we have big powers supporting war. And this genocide in Gaza, it is a crime. Everybody knows it is a crime. The whole United Nations is against it. And yet because of veto power, the United Nations is helpless.

And so the killings go on. Despite the wishes of the world is for peace. Everybody wants a ceasefire. But one country, this time it is the United States, applies the veto, and the killing goes on. On a related note, but perhaps a different note, I’ve lived in Japan for 20 years now. I know you have quite a connection to Japan and visit there frequently. Have you been to Hiroshima? Have you seen the peace ceremony they have each year there? Yes, I have. And what did you think about your time? Yeah, they tried to remind themselves and the world, if possible, that war is destructive.

Certainly nuclear war is very destructive. So that is what they tried to do. Now it’s already almost 80 years. So the world needs to be reminded that war is destructive. And it is going to involve many innocent people being killed. It is really not a solution to a conflict. It doesn’t reduce the conflict at all. In fact, more people get killed by war than are killed by other means. Disease, for example, the amount of money spent on military equipment nowadays runs into billions. And even poor countries are persuaded to arm themselves for war.

And we also see a lot of small arms being used by very backward people. Where did they get the small arms? It is from the people who can manufacture the small arms. So the world trade in weapons should also be, if not, stopped, but at least regulated, because they are supplying weapons to a lot of irresponsible people who make use of the weapons to kill others. And then you say, well, there is terrorism. Well, the terrorists are getting all the weapons from whom? They have to answer that question. When you talk about regulation, who can regulate an international trade like that? What body or what institution? The United Nations can if we have no veto power, because generally the people in this world do not want war.

That’s why they are demonstrating in the streets against war. But the leaders are following their own agenda or their own ambition, and they develop an meeting to certain countries. And they think that the way to solve the problem with their enemies is to go to war. But this time around, if you go to war, the destruction will not only be with the enemy, but you yourself will be destroyed. Well, finally, my viewers may not know about the Purdana Global Peace Foundation that came about as a result of this criminalized war declaration. Can you tell us about the foundation and what it does? Well, after I retired, I felt that I needed to focus on one of the major problems affecting us and we were facing guerrilla warfare in Malaysia at that time.

But we also remember we were occupied by Japan during the war, and Japan transferred us to Thailand. We were living under Thai rule for some time. We wanted to be responsible for our own country, not be colonized by anyone. So to do that, to gain independence, we have a choice whether we fight against the colonizers or we negotiate with them. Malaysia preferred to negotiate because it doesn’t involve killing people. And fortunately for us, we were successful. But in many other countries, the only way they could free themselves was by going to war and killing people.

But to me, killing people is not a solution. We should at least be sensible enough to assess the problem and make a decision to either give independence to the country or to continue with your colonization, but avoid killing people. So the reason why we launched this campaign was because we think killing people is uncivilized and killing people is too costly a way to solve problems of conflicts between nations. And just before I go, I know you’re probably sick of this question now, but you just turned 100 years old. Happy birthday. What is the secret? How on earth can you be so energetic and lively at 100 years old? Well, if you don’t suffer from fatal diseases, you should be able to survive for a long time.

I was fortunate. Of course, I have a heart problem. But nowadays, heart problems can be treated with even open heart surgery. I was operated on by twice opening my chairs and fiddling with my heart while I survive. And otherwise, I only suffer from minor ailments which everybody suffers from. So everybody should be able to live a long life provided, of course, they look after themselves. I feel that obesity is one of the major problems we face now because some countries, the amount of food they consume is beyond their needs. Those they enjoy food and they put on weight and of course that puts a strain on the heart.

So a good lifestyle is very important. And if we want to ensure that we can be as sharp as before, the brain needs to be activated. If you go to sleep and do nothing, then the brain regrets. The whole body, the human body is such that if you don’t use the body, it regrets us. So you see people who are weight lifters, for example, they have good muscles because they lift weights. And we see intelligent people who continue to be active, talking, writing, reading, and debating. They keep their brain active. And that is one of the important things that contribute to continued activity even though you are aging.

Indeed. Well, to Dr. Mahathir Mohamud, thank you for your time. Thank you for your efforts. I hope you have a hundred more years to continue to promote peace around the world. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Welcome. Thank you. [tr:trw].

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