KUALA LUMPUR, May 28, SPA _ Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan urged Islamic countries Monday to work together to create a new golden age to liberate Muslims from poverty, conflict andextremism. The five nations told an Islamic conference that many of the 1.6 billion Muslims globally rank among the world'spoorest people, the Associated Press reported. «We are now at a crossroads in our history as an ummah (Muslim community). Never in the history of the ummah ... have we faced such great odds,» Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told government officials, corporate executives and analysts attending the World Islamic Economic Forum. «While the nations of the West basked in the glory oftheir global ascendancy, Muslim nations were largelyconsigned to what people term 'the Third World,»' Abdullah said. He noted that the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference accounted for only 5 percent of world's gross domestic product in 2005 despite comprising 21 percent of the global population.--MORE www.spa.gov.sa/453745