Malaysia will continue defending rights of the Palestinians - PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today reiterated Malaysia's stance to continue defending the rights of the Palestinian people.

He said the government's stance has also been expressed at the global level through international conferences and during his meetings with key world leaders.

"The government stands firm in defending the rights of the people in Gaza, even during international summits, during meetings with (US) President Joe Biden, (German Chancellor) Olaf Scholz, (Australian Prime Minister) Anthony Albanese, and most recently China's Premier Li Qiang.

"At every meeting (with world leaders)...the issue (of Palestine) was raised as our main agenda.

"We are the only country that openly meets with the leaders of Hamas, even though we received pressure... but we have to do this and defend the position of Hamas as we fought for Nelson Mandela (former president of South Africa) and others," he said during Minister's Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat today.

Anwar said this in reply to Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar) who sought clarification on the decision made by a consortium of government-linked investment companies on the sale of Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) shares to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

The Prime Minister said the MADANI Government under his leadership has also taken the strongest stance in the history of the Malaysian government against Israeli-owned companies.

"Israeli companies continued to operate (in Malaysia) until last year, only the MADANI Government decided to stop all direct trade including with ZIM (shipping company based in Israel) which did use our port until last year as allowed (to operate) since 2002.

"So, we have to accept the fact about the firm stance of the current government," he said.

-- BERNAMA