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JEDDAH, Oct 20: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, on a visit to Saudi Arabia, on Sunday renewed his call on Muslim oil producing states to use oil as a weapon to defend their interests.
Mahathir stopped short of linking any oil embargo to a possible US attack on Iraq or to the Middle East conflict.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has repeatedly said it was opposed to any oil embargo.
“The Muslim nations have a lot of oil, which can be used as part of our strategy,” Mahathir told reporters in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.
He also repeated a warning that any attack on Iraq would not be productive or help the global war on terror.
“You can take over Iraq or any other country but that does not mean people will not launch further attacks, because all it takes is one person to cause a sufficient amount of damage,” he said.
Saudi Arabia, a key regional US ally, has said it was opposed to any attack on Iraq.
BANKING HUB: Malaysia took a step closer to realising its aim of becoming a regional Islamic financial hub next month with the launch of an international panel to set benchmarks for Islamic banking.
Central banks from eight founding members — Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, Sudan and the Islamic Development Bank — will ink a pact November 3 in Kuala Lumpur to inaugurate the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB).
The establishment of the IFSB — an association of central banks, monetary authorities and other institutions responsible for supervising and regulating Islamic banking — was “in response to the growing significance of the Islamic financial services industry,” officials said.
It is the culmination of two years of work by the founding members, with support of the International Monetary Fund and the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions.
Bankers hailed the launch of the IFSB as a major boost to Islamic banking and finance globally, saying it would serve as an avenue to develop uniform interpretation of Islamic Sharia laws for processes, financing modes and regulatory standards.
“It will give Islamic banking players more credibility and firmer ground to compete against conventional banks either locally or internationally,” said SBB Islamic Banking Group manager Nordin Yahaya.
The growing market share for Islamic investments estimated to be worth billions of dollars signified strong demand for Sharia compliant financial products worldwide, he said.
There was “immense potential for business opportunities” with experts estimating the wealth of Islamic nations — home to one-fifth of world’s population — at around 800 billion to one trillion dollars, he said.
The launch of the IFSB was timely as it would focus on product development, especially globally traded financial instruments accepted by other Sharia boards, he added. Bank Islam Malaysia managing director Ahmad Tajudin Abdul Rahman said it would improve efficiency in the industry and enhance Malaysia’s prospects of becoming a regional centre for Islamic banking and finance.
He said a growing number of non-Muslims were investing in Islamic products, which were deemed more competitive and cost-saving.
The government’s plan to issue a new licence to a foreign Islamic bank should serve as a wake-up call for local institutions to beef up their Islamic banking operations to face competition, he warned.—AFP
