October 1, 2018
Malaysian premier Mahathir said his country would stop supporting Myanmar’s government over its handling of the Rohingya crisis.
Malaysia will no longer lend its support to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi over her handling of the Rohingya crisis, says Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The Prime Minister remarked that Suu Kyi seemed to be a “changed person” and he had lost faith in her.
“She did not want to say anything against the action taken by the (Myanmar) military against the Rohingya. So, we made (it) quite clear that we don’t really support her anymore,” he told host Ghida Fakhry of the Turkish international news channel TRT World on Saturday.
The interview was held at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York before he left for London.
Dr Mahathir said when Suu Kyi was under house arrest, Malaysia campaigned to get her released. But when he wrote to Suu Kyi, he did not receive any reply and was “very disappointed”.
“We have complained to the world about the treatment of the Rohingya. In fact, we have ourselves received quite a lot of Rohingya people in our country,” he said.
Dr Mahathir had addressed the UNGA on Friday over the state of the Rohingya.
He criticised the authorities in Myanmar and Suu Kyi for denying that the Rohingya people were being murdered, their homes torched and forcing over a million refugees to flee.
Dr Mahathir had also questioned the world for keeping silent on the massacres.
Several other countries have similarly criticised Suu Kyi. There have been calls to revoke the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to her in 1991, while Canada has stripped Suu Kyi of her honorary citizenship.