OIC needs a thorough overhauling

Now at least some of the leaders of the organisation are coming to their senses after some hard 'doses' given by some out-spoken leaders, like Dr Mahathir, former Prime Minister of Malayasia who had always refused to toe the path, whether economic or political, prescribed by the West, particularly America. But there are still some leaders who seem to be more rigid in their policy of toeing than dictating their own terms. They are just not helping the OIC to regain its image. They would like to hold annual summits and periodical ministerial conferences, adopt declarations and resolutions and then wash off their hands.

Sana Declaration: Anything new?
Thus the recent three-day OIC Foreign Ministers Conference (28-30 June), held in Sana, Yemen, had raised very few ripples in the vast ocean of global news, views and events. One had to scan newspapers thoroughly to find any item on the outcome of the conference. However, we could collect tit-bits from the statement made by our Foreign Minister, Morshed Khan, who on return from Sana, told newsmen that the conference had "agreed" to promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation among its member states and to develop an Islamic Common Market (ICM). The OIC Foreign Ministers also "discussed" the strategy of the organisation as part of a policy reform towards mainstreaming the OIC to face any negative impact of globalisation and campaign against Islamic Ummah. The meeting also announced, in a Declaration, to "review" the progress in the Sana programme, in the next Foreign Ministers' Conference to be held in Azerbaizan. So far so good. At least it is heartening to know that the Rip Van Winkles are awake to work.

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But the tragedy is that such Declarations and resolutions, whether adopted at the annual OIC summit, or at the periodic conferences of their Foreign Ministers, had come and gone like changing climates. The Muslim Ummah is now disillusioned to a great extent about their performance. The past experience, if experience is at all a lesson and a guide, bears testimony to such hopeless and ridiculous results.

It may be recalled here that a similar OIC FM conference, held in Malaysia, a couple of years back, also raised their voice, perhaps for the first time, to give the Islamic world a new direction to meet the new politico-economic challenges of the new century. But thus far, no further. Perhaps at the next FM conference the resolutions would be re-emphasised! That is why an Asian diplomat had earlier commented that OIC "continues to harp on old issues over and over again." However, the Islamic world would be eagerly waiting to see what new strategy the up-coming OIC summit, to be held in Makka, by the end of this year, would adopt to rescue the ailing organisation from its present dilapidated condition.

Dr Mahathir's wisdom
The leaders of the OIC, I mean, the Kings, PMs and Presidents of the member countries, should try to take a cue from what Dr Mahathir had told the 10th OIC Summit held in 2003 in Kuala Lumpur, instead of waiting for any "green," "red" and "yellow" signals from a distant pole. Dr Mahathir declared: "We have the biggest oil resources in the world. We have great wealth. ... We control 57 of the 180 (now 191) countries in the world body (UN). Our votes can make or break international organisations. Yet we seem more helpless." But why this helplessness on the part of the OIC leadership with a high profile representation also at the OPEC? Why they had so far failed to rise to the occasion, at least once during last three decades of OIC's existence, to take proper steps to save the Islamic world from further humiliation?

Again Dr Mahathir had given the correct answer, pointing to the dilemma from which the OIC leadership is suffering. He declared: "None of our countries is truly independent. We are under pressure to our oppressors' wishes about how we should behave, how we should govern our lands, how we should think even". A really horrible and shameful picture Dr. Mahathir had vividly painted for those who want to learn from the writings on the wall. Look at the rich, rather oil-rich, countries of the Middle East, you get the correct picture. The leaders there are fiddling while their land is burning, whether it is the question of Israeli occupation of Arab territories, or aggression of an Arab country by the US-led colonial forces to control its oil wealth.

Today, the Islamic world, particularly the Arab world, has become a playground for the Western, particularly American 'golfers'. And the Muslims rulers seem to be obliged to serve them as 'caddies'

Arab leaders' role: CIA report
It reminds me of a CIA report, either a so-called 'leak-out' or planted in the media in a planned way, that forecast the possible role of the Arab leaders when Iraq was invaded by Anglo-US forces. The report boldly announced that the Arab leaders would "condemn it openly, but celebrate it secretly." What a 'role-model' picture of the Arab leadership, drawn by the CIA! Did any of the Arab leaders, or for that matter, their organisation Arab League, refute the charges? Or, they just swallowed it?

Now, America had adopted a new device to further cow down such leadership, particularly in the Mid-East, in the name of introducing political and democratic reforms to galvanise the autocratic rule practiced by most of them. But certainly it does not mean that America is serious about introducing such reforms. The west's plan is to use it as a ploy to scare the autocratic rulers about their future and thus make them more submissive to the west to carry out its dictates. The last Arab League summit, held in Algeria, bears testimony to the ridiculous stand taken by some important Arab leaders who preferred to remain absent from the summit as it was to take some vital decisions regarding peace in the Mid-East vis-a-vis role of Israel. An example of rope walling, indeed!

America suffering from wrong psyche?
Perhaps America has been suffering from a wrong 'psyche' since 9/11, that the Muslim world had turned into a hotbed for breeding terrorists and as such wants to spread a security net covering the Muslim countries, as an inevitable necessity. But the question is: was there any such terrorist activities around the world, including the recent abominable London bomb blasts, and also that at Sharm- el-Sheikh, prior to what had happened and is still happening in Afghanistan and Iraq? They turned a really secular country like Iraq into a den of terrorism to achieve their ultimate goal of controlling its oil resources. 'As you sow, so you reap' as they say, whatever is happening is the consequence of what the US-led forces had been doing in the name of 'War on Terror'.

Sorry, we lost track with OIC. The future of the Islamic world, and for that matter, their two organisations -- OIC and the Arab League, seems to be in the doldrums. There is still time to save the sinking ship, if the OIC and Arab League leaders give up their policy of what Dr Mahathir said, "kowtowing" to the West, particularly, to America. There lies the salvation of the Muslim world from the tentacles of a spreading neo-colonialism, apparently led by USA. America had already built a huge military base in Qatar, a naval base in Bahrain, and big or small bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan, besides maintaining a large army of some 1,30,000 troops in Iraq. Thus it now commands a wide range of power and military influence in some of the strategic Muslim states, particularly in the Mid-East, to rule the roost. They are now spreading their long arms towards the newly independent six Muslim majority states in the central Asia.

It is now to be seen how the new Secretary-General of OIC, Ekme ledin of Turkey, goes ahead with his recently announced reforms plan. He had announced at the Sana conference, that "I want to push for real reform in the organisation, not just a superficial one .... to enhance capabilities and improve performance". We earnestly hope that he would succeed to convince the OIC leadership to wake up to the calls for introducing "real reform".

Let the OIC prove once for all that it is not dead and gone. Let it decide its course of action. It is time for them to show that they are no more 'zero+zero+zero=zero' (as once lamented by late Shahid Suhrawardy) and beware of the well-planted "moles" who are eating into the vitals of their organisations, both overtly and covertly.

A M M Shahabuddin is a retired UN official.