Better not to have warships in Malaysian waters, says Dr M

The prime minister says it will give rise to 'unhealthy situations'.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says it is not healthy to have warships in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. (AFP pic)

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it is better not to have any warship present in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea.

Speaking after chairing the Cabinet meeting at Perdana Putra here today, he said the presence of warships in Malaysian waters would lead to “unhealthy situations”.

Replying to a question on his decision to not allow any foreign warship in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca, Mahathir said: “This is because some other countries (when) seeing some countries having warships, they are already saying that they should have their warships in these areas (too), and it is not healthy.”

Mahathir was quoted in a report in relation to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as saying: “We have no problem with that (BRI), except of course we would not like to see too many warships in this area because (a) warship attracts other warships.”

On developments regarding the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, the prime minister said follow-up action would be taken following the latest investigation into the incident.

“The Attorney-General’s Chambers together with the Foreign Ministry will study in detail follow-up action that could be taken against the party responsible based on the criminal investigation on MH17,” he said.

The Boeing B777 aircraft was on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down in Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers and crew were killed.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) led by Holland previously announced that they were certain that a BUK missile had been used to shoot down MH17, and it had been fired from the 53rd Brigade of the Anti-Aircraft Guided Missile based in Kursk, in the Russian Federation. -FMT