SHANGHAI, Oct 16 (AFP) - Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar warned Tuesday that prolonged military attacks on Afghanistan could destabilise the Islamic world and reiterated calls for the US to end the campaign quickly. 
	
	
 "We hope it can be ended as soon as possible," Syed Hamid told AFP in an interview here ahead of a ministerial gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. 
	
	
 "If it goes on, we are worried. Islamic countries are with the US in combatting terrorism but we don't want it to be prolonged because it can create trouble and instability all around the Islamic world," he said. 
	
	
 "We are worried that Islamic states like ourselves that support the US efforts, ultimately the population will rise against us, seeing all these innocent people being killed ... we don't want the war to be seen or to be perceived as a war against Islam." 
	
	
 Syed Hamid said the international community must deal with terrorism rationally and form a new "security architecture" to combat what he described as a "new dimension of crime against humanity" in the long term. 
	
	
 "For continued world economic development and growth, security architecture is important. This is not the conventional security but it is internal and we must look at terrorism and its sources," he said. 
	
	
 "At the moment the focus is on Taliban and Osama bin Laden, but after that what happens? 
	
	
 "Over the long term, we have to look at how terrorism manifests itself and have an international convention where terrorism is properly defined and where it is considered as a crime against humanity so there can be a proper tribunal." 
	
	
 Syed Hamid said critics must also accept that the war against terrorism could affect civil liberties. 
	
	
 "One cannot be too philosophical or idealistic about civil liberties when they can jeopardise peace and security, law and order in a country." 
	
	
 Opposition groups in Malaysia have expressed concern that the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is using the US-led war on terror as a pretext to crack down on legitimate dissent. 
	
	
 Mahathir will be among APEC leaders, including US President George W. Bush, convening in Shanghai this weekend for an annual summit. 
	
	
 The summit is set to issue an anti-terrorism declaration at the conclusion of the largest gathering of world leaders since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. 
	
	
 The declaration was necessary because terrorism was the "most dangerous enemy of law-abiding citizens and an affront against law and democracy", Syed Hamid said. 
	
	
 Predominantly Muslim Malaysia supports the US hunt for terrorists but opposes the attacks on Afghanistan. Mahathir has urged the United Nations to convene an international meeting on terrorism.