YOURSAY | ‘The obvious question is, “Why did Mahathir say it?’

Angered by Dr M's remarks, report claims India mulls restricting imports

RR: India's reaction to limit or reject import of palm oil from Malaysia was expected from the day fugitive Zakir Naik was not deported to India to face criminal charges in his home country and this culminated when Malaysia said in UN General Assembly (UNGA) that India invaded Jammu and Kashmir to please Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

This will come as a heavy cost for Malaysia and to our palm oil smallholders.

Vijay47: The obvious question is, “Why did Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mahathir say it?”

Despite his now increasingly frequent forays into cunning and claims of bewildered innocence, Mahathir is not your run-of-the-mill Umno-type politician from the Malay boondocks.

He is perhaps the most knowledgeable and astute of all our prime ministers, he knows what’s what and where it’s at. Yet he let loose at the United Nations, denied the truth he would have been so aware of and was deliberately provocative and offensive towards India.

“Invaded” is hardly a slip of the tongue, it was carefully chosen to portray an India embarking on bullying and subjugating poor and defenceless neighbours, Mahathir simply refused to acknowledge that Jammu and Kashmir are as much part of India as Perlis is of Malaysia.

But when we consider the hounds he is running with, the penny drops, Mahathir in his twilight years has decided to go along that path of racial and religious extremism.

Let us look at his recent road map. Suddenly and for no discernible reason, he retreated from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), mumbling something about a deep state threatening national well-being, placing himself on the same podium as the now Famous Four university professors or for that matter, almost all Malay professors.

Then we have his dalliance with a rogue like Zakir Naik and on an equally tangible level, not only did he attend that shameless Malay Dignity Congress, he made a particularly offensive speech, in the process of referring to Indians as “orang asing” (foreigners), disregarding his own origins.

Asked about the possibility, no, the probability of India hitting back, Mahathir incredulously said that New Delhi has not informed him of its intentions. Why on earth, or Kashmir, would India do that? Did he inform or ask for New Delhi’s leave when he made that speech at the UNGA?

Should Malaysia’s largest palm oil customer take its trade elsewhere, the biggest nose cut would be our own, including those of the hordes in Felda.

Mahathir seems willing to let the house burn and the ship sink even if only to display support for dubious company like Turkey, Pakistan, and Muslim fanatics.

Could this be evidence of a failing grip on reality? If it is, Mahathir would no longer earn our compassion.

Orang Biasa: Unless India is bound by contract, they will give no official notification that they will not buy from us. India will simply stop buying from us.

Ninety-four-year old Mahathir ought to think before he speaks. Why does he take part in a conflict between Pakistan and India? Could he not have spoken about something else?

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the subject of Zakir Naik, how can Mahathir say that Modi did not ask for Zakir Naik to be sent back? Mahathir has poor understanding. It is time for the senile old man to retire.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Our official policy since 1957 was to take a neutral position on the Kashmir issue, that is, we never supported the claims of either country while we advocated a resolution based on existing UN resolutions.

In the intervening years, we always abstained in votes about Kashmir or worked behind the scenes to get both countries to withdraw mutually damaging resolutions in the UN or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Mahathir was ill-advised to use the words "invade and occupy" at his recent UNGA speech simply to appease his local Malay/Muslim voter base.

Historically, it was Pakistan that invaded and occupied Kashmir in 1947 after the Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession in favour of India and subsequently Pakistan withdrew but remained in occupation of the northern part of Kashmir with the ceasefire in 1948.

Mahathir's choice of words was ambiguous. Modi did not occupy and invade Kashmir but rather used his parliamentary majority to repeal the special status of Kashmir under the Indian Constitution while exercising emergency powers to maintain law and order in the state in an oppressive manner.

I do not agree with these actions of the BJP government. However, Mahathir has seriously damaged relations with India by his careless statement.

Now we face the economic consequences that cannot be compensated by Mahathir's pivot to Pakistan. Frankly, former premier Najib Abdul Razak was smarter in handling the delicacy and intricacies of the Kashmir question vis--a-vis India and Pakistan.

Mahathir's pathetic attempt to become the mouse that roars has blown up in his face.

True Malaysian: Mahathir has repeatedly said things both locally and internationally which caused problems to the country economically.

From his racially-slant speech at the Malay Dignity Congress to UNGA, we are now less and less dignified as a unified people/race and country.

Mahathir, please leave the political scene and save the people from further division and the country from further damage.

Retnam: No problem. Sri Lanka can buy everything from us.

After all, we are arresting all the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorists. That will make Sri Lanka very happy. Mahathir can show middle finger to Modi.

Cascara: A simple and sensible way to appease the angered Indians would be to send back Zakir Naik. He can be our sacrificial goat.

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