I can remember Dr Mahathir saying that if he were anti-semitic,
he would have to hate Arabs too. After all, the Jews and Arabs
share Abraham's blood. In fact, Hebrew and Arabic are
linguistically related (eg the Hebrew word "Shalom" and its Arabic
equivalent "Salam", meaning peace). Do note that the word
anti-semitic is a misnomer, just as Hitler bent the word "Aryan" to
mean Teutonic German.
With regards to Anwar, the charges of homosexuality levelled
against him are highly questionable. I can only say Dr Mahathir
needed an excuse to get rid of his former No 2 and charging him
with sodomy was way too convenient indeed. This indeed shows that
Dr Mahathir is corrupt as fark. Later on, one of Anwar's accusers
attacked one Putri Umno leader for being lesbian, but was ordered
to retract her allegations. Had this been the Netherlands, it
wouldn't have been possible to attack a politician for being
gay/lesbian and say he/she is unfit to hold power. But it was
Malaysia, where Islam dominates and a conservative undercurrent is
gaining clout.
However, his stand on Islamic affairs is to be lauded. He has
trodden a fine line between getting support from the westerners and
promoting Islamic values in a way that nobody has done. As a
result, no terrorist has yet to strike on Malaysian targets. Dr
Mahathir was vocal about the issue of IDF troops killing innocent
Palestinian civillians while Singapore was loath to make its stand
(due to SAF's debt to IDF). Reading about West Jerusalem's
atrocities towards these people in the Star has significantly changed my
outlook. I don't blame those suicide bombers for what they do
anymore, as they were pushed into a corner.