Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should not condemn US president Donald Trump for keeping his promises and enacting a controversial travel ban, Kinabatangan MP Bung Mokhtar Radin says.
"There are many leaders of the affected countries who have condemned Trump.
"But I feel it is not appropriate for the prime minister to condemn (Trump), because what Trump is doing is fulfilling his campaign promises," Bung (photo) told Malaysiakini.
He was responding to calls for Najib to repudiate Trump over the travel ban affecting seven Muslim countries.
This is in-line with a immigration ban on Muslims he promised during the US presidential election campaign last year.
The "Muslim ban", as it has come to be known, bars people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia from entering the US, regardless of their religion.
Najib had previously been vocal in criticising atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Bung brushed off a question on whether keeping mum on Trump's ban would make Najib appear as though he was only brave enough to criticise Myanmar but not the US.
"I think that every country's leader has their own stand on national security. There is no issue of double standards," he said.
Ideas chief executive officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan expressed a similar view.
"Politically speaking, Malaysian politicians enjoy blind loyalty from their supporters.
"What they say or don't say doesn't reflect negatively on them," Wan Saiful said when contacted.
Trump enacted the travel ban last Friday, just a week after he took office.
The executive order also stymies entry for refugees from the affected nations.
Following this, there have been reports of Muslims from these countries being turned back upon arrival on US soil.
Last Saturday a federal US judge granted a stay on the ban, following a lawsuit filed by two Iraqis detained at New York's JFK Airport.- Mkini
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