KUALA LUMPUR: The government cannot send a peacekeeping force to Palestine without getting a mandate from the United Nations, the Dewan Negara was told today.
Defence minister Mohamad Hasan said as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the UN, Malaysia has decided to wait for a decision and avoid acting unilaterally.
“Many have sent WhatsApp messages and posted on social media asking why we are not sending soldiers to Palestine. I need to clarify this. We cannot arbitrarily send out our forces past the country’s borders.
“Remember, the moment our forces move across our borders, that is tantamount to a declaration of war on the country concerned. We are not in such a situation,” he said when winding up the debate on the supply bill 2024 at the defence ministry level today.
Mohamad, who is also known as Tok Mat, said the armed forces had been acknowledged by the UN for its role at the international level since Malaysia started taking part in peacekeeping missions in Congo, Timor Leste and, most recently, in Lebanon.
He said decisions to send a peacekeeping force were not determined by the defence ministry, but guided by foreign ministry policy.
Mohamad said he was confident that Malaysia would be among the countries to be asked by the UN to join a peacekeeping mission in Palestine if the UN, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation received a mandate from the UN Security Council.
“Based on this mandate and the government’s decision to be part of a peacekeeping mission, the ministry and I will not hesitate to send our forces to join any mission,” he said. - FMT
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