By Sim Leoi Leoi. Thestar.com.
Malaysia. May 15, 2001.
KUALA LUMPUR: Cuban President Fidel Castro, a self-confessed atheist, has
admitted that "he's become interested in the study of religion."
The 74-year-old long-time communist leader said that since undertaking the
studies, he had become more rational about the role of religion in people's
lives.
"I've been able to know better about all human beings. I find it much
more logical now that people can have that strength of faith inside them.
"It's also easier for me to understand now the comfort that people can
take in religion," he said after a two-hour visit to the Petronas Twin
Towers here yesterday.
Referring to his recent visit to Iran, Castro said women were accorded
better treatment in some Islamic nations than those in the West.
"In the West, women are regarded as a commodity and an object of
business. I think of Western women as those who have been asphyxiated because of
the way they're treated," he said.
Castro, who was accompanied by his 200-member delegation, took many foreign
tourists and locals by surprise when he approached the crowd to shake their
hands and speak to them before making his exit.
Many among the crowd had waited patiently near the tower lobby to see Castro
and rushed forward eagerly to greet him.
Earlier, the Cuban leader and his delegation were given a briefing by
Petronas general manager of corporate planning and development Nasaruddin Md
Idris on the oil company's operations.
Castro also toured the building's skybridge and went up to the observation
deck on the 83rd floor.
In an almost 30-minute impromptu press conference later, Castro touched on a
variety of subjects--including that of US State Secretary Colin Powell and
surprisingly, John Lennon of the Beatles.
On his visit to the tower, Castro described it good-humouredly as "an
opportunity for him to get into outer space."
"I'm much closer to heaven here," he said jokingly, adding that he
had not noticed anything bad in Malaysia, unlike what he had been told
previously about the country.
Castro said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad was an excellent
leader to have conceived such great marvels as the Twin Towers and Putrajaya.
Asked about criticism from the West on the treatment of political dissidents
in both Cuba and Malaysia, especially that of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Castro
said:
"We're proud to be criticised by them.
"See if you can find any kind of repression here or in Cuba like that
you see in the West every day," he said, adding that both Malaysia and Cuba
were "two rebels."
Castro said he also admired Powell for being daring enough to say the Cuban
government had accomplished much for the country's education and health systems.
"But he's in the US government now. He must pursue the same line."
Castro added sarcastically that he could understand the US government being
upset over its recent expulsion from the United Nations Commission of Human
Rights.
"It's true that the world has been very unfair and abusive towards the
US," he said.
On the John Lennon statue he unveiled recently in Cuba, Castro said his
government was considering whether to open a shop "selling his spectacles
near it."
"Too many people have been taking John Lennon's spectacles from his
statue," laughed Castro.
© 1995-2001 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No
10894-D) | 