While on a visit to Dubai on Tuesday, Mahathir Mohammed, former premier pf Malaysia told reporters that the United Nations was the least democratic organization in the world. Mohammad stated that the UN should "be run by the consent of the majority, rather than by imposing the will of a few who have the veto power."
"If I were to head the UN, the first thing I will do is to disband the UN Security Council and abolish the veto," Mahathir said, adding that doing away with the practice of veto would make the UN a relevant international body, according to Khaleej Times.
The former leader also told reporters that "Liberal democracy (as practiced in the West) violates the greater interests of society in the name of individual rights."
"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We all know that someone has absolute power and he is corrupt," he said.
Mohammad also expressed his disapproval with political Islam, and advocated instead a return to the fundamentals of the Koran.
The leader condemned the US-invasion of Iraq, and said that the Iraqi people were ultimately paying the price for the invasion. He added that invading Iraq was not the proper way to defeat terrorism, which he felt was a territorial issue, not a religious one.
He also expressed doubt at to whether former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would receive a fair trial.
'I am not here to defend Saddam's policies or whatever he stood for," he said, "What we would like to see happen is that Saddam gets a fair trial. It's for a court to decide whether he is guilty or not guilty but it must not be a kangaroo court."
