By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, December 7 (IslamOnline) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said peace would be elusive as long as Muslims were oppressed worldwide, adding that there was oppression everywhere.

“There is oppression of Muslims everywhere [today]. It is difficult for them to uphold peace when they are being oppressed,” he said as reported by Bernama news agency Saturday, December 7.

Speaking at his Eid el-Fitri (Hari Raya) open house at the Seri Perdana, Putra Jaya, Dr Mahathir said Muslims were seen as violent although the word Islam has the same meaning as peace.

“Muslims feel they have to fight back [against oppression],” he said.

Mahathir said the world had to recognize that Muslims’ land had been taken and their rights violated, alluding to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict where the Zionist regime has hijacked the land of Muslims in Palestine.

Mahathir said acts such as the Israeli military killing Palestinian civilians promoted terror acts.

“For example, you see the Israeli army killing civilians and the world never stops Israel,” he said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“But they want to stop the Palestinians but not Israel. Children are being killed,” he added.

Such brutalities make the people angry, “and when people are angry, it is very difficult for them to stop expressing their anger,” he said.

“If you want peace, you have to recognize that Muslim [people’s] land have been taken away from them. Both sides should stop this anger and be more tolerant,’’ he said.

Mahathir also spoke on the fight against terrorism saying that his Government realized the importance of pre-emptive measures long before the so-called developed countries.

“We don’t deny there are terrorists in Malaysia, but we curb them earlier than other countries. When we detained these people [suspected terrorists], many [developed] countries accused us of not being democratic.

“Now they understand if we want to avoid terrorism, we have to take pre-emptive actions to detain them. If you wait until they exploded a bomb, many people will die and its too late,’’ he told reporters.

He added that Malaysia is a safe country thanks to the actions taken to check the terrorist threat earlier than in other countries.

Malaysia arrested more than 100 alleged members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Malaysian Mujahideen Council (KMM) since last year.

But the Malay premier still said Malaysia was a safe country to visit.

"Yes, indeed our country is safe... We do not deny that there are terrorists in Malaysia, but we have contained them much earlier than other countries," he told reporters at his Hari Raya open house at his official residence "Seri Perdana".

Mahathir said he did not know the intentions of some foreign sources who said there were groups tarnishing the image of Malaysia, acknowledging, however, that their actions were detrimental to the country.

“I'm saddened with such fictional tales that were purposely being concocted to smear Malaysia's image while we do not do anything to run down other countries,” he said.