"We'll only recognize the Iraqi government after it is duly elected by the Iraqis," Albar

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, September 8 (IslamOnline.net) - Malaysia is firm on its position that Iraq will not attend the 10th Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Leaders' Summit hosted by Malaysia next month as the country is under occupation by the U.S.-led forces, its Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Sunday, September 7.

"As long as Iraq is not in the hands of Iraqis, its leaders are not legitimately elected by Iraqis, till then its seat in the OIC will remain vacant,” said the Minister, according to Bernama.

"We'll only recognize the Iraqi government after it is duly elected by the Iraqis and not by the occupying forces," he added.

"There'll be no representative from Iraq attending the summit because the country is still under occupation," he told reporters.

Albar said Malaysia will not recognize the Governing Council appointed by the U.S.-led Forces to run Iraq since the council was not set up by the Iraqis themselves.

The U.S.-led Forces had recently agreed to appoint 25 Iraqis from various ethnic groups like Shiites, Sunnis and Kurdish to the Iraq Governing Council.

Albar, however, said the OIC Credentials Committee would study Iraq's position on whether its seat could be occupied by the temporary government or its cabinet members.

No Troops To Iraq

Malaysia has also rejected any idea of sending troops for peace keeping purposes in Iraq and has criticized the U.S. for its mishandling of the security situation in the Muslim country.

Malaysia would confine its diplomatic relations with the Gulf State only to humanitarian assistance, according to the Minister.

The situation in Iraq and the role of the U.S. in the Muslim state is of great concern to Malaysia and other Muslim countries in the region. Muslims in general want the U.S. to leave Iraq and let the people decide for themselves who they want as leader.

Indonesia too is not willing to send troops to Iraq and has not recognized the ruling council created by the U.S. says Indonesian officials contacted by IslamOnline.net.

Malaysia and Indonesia may only send troops after the U.S. has pulled out and left the security of the country into the hands of a U.N. force composed mostly of Muslim soldiers, IOL was told Monday.

While the U.S. seems content to accept its failures in Iraq, Malaysia and Indonesia both majority Muslim nations in South East Asia declared they will not support a U.S.-drafted resolution to push for a wider United Nations involvement in Iraq.

Albar said it was a right decision to push for a U.N. involvement in Iraq but the move was "not far enough".

"It (the resolution) does not get the UN to be totally involved. The UN must be directly involved and everything must be subjected to the UN and not the other way round," he said.

He said Malaysia shared similar views with France and Germany on the matter adding that additional steps ought to be taken to get the involvement of Muslim countries in a multinational force under the auspices of the world body.

Lately, the coalition forces in Iraq, which came under constant guerilla-style attacks, invited several Islamic countries to send their troops to the oil-rich country.

Pakistan, Turkey and Arab countries, which were invited by Washington to send their troops to man post-war Iraq, have reacted coldly to the invitation.