MALAYSIA TO PULL TROOPS OUT OF SAUDI ARABIA, SAYS ITS DEFENSE MINISTER MAT SABU: ‘WHY WOULD WE WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN ATTACKING YEMEN, ANOTHER ISLAMIC NATION’

PUTRAJAYA is considering pulling back Malaysian troops from Saudi Arabia, which is engaged in air strikes against Yemeni rebel fighters, said Mohamad Sabu.

The defence minister said the government is not interested in being involved in conflicts in the Gulf region, and is reviewing the deployment of army personnel to Saudi Arabia.

“Why would we want to be involved in attacking Yemen, another Islamic nation?”   Mohamad, also known as Mat Sabu, told The Malaysian Insight.

“We don’t want to be involved in such conflicts.”

Mohamad, who was named as defence minister last month, said if Malaysia were to get its military involved in any conflict, it would only be through the United Nations.

On April 14, the Malaysian army was involved in an exercise called “Gulf Shield 1” in Damman, Saudi Arabia.

Since 2015, Riyadh and nine Arab nations have been engaged in air strikes assisting the Yemeni government in its fight against Houthi rebels and those loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Houthis – Shia Zaidi Muslims who comprise almost half of the Yemeni population – are working with Ali to topple the current Saudi-backed president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Saudi media has named Malaysia as one of the 34 countries working with Riyadh in “fighting terrorism”.

However, the Saudi-led coalition’s military attacks have been condemned by the UN as war crimes, after investigations revealed that most of the strikes in Yemen between March and October last year were carried out in civilian areas, killing 292 people, including children and women.

The UN has also warned other nations against aiding Riyadh.

Former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein previously denied Malaysia’s involvement in the Saudi-led operations, saying army officers were sent to the Yemeni conflict zone to rescue Malaysian civilians.

Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen yesterday said “Malaysia has no business being involved in the war in Yemen”, and urged Mohamad to cease all military participation by Malaysia in the conflict zone.

He said the excuse that Malaysian troops are in Yemen to carry out humanitarian work is “absurd”.

“If it is indeed true that our troops were deployed to assist in evacuation efforts, then the work should have been done by now, and there is no need to remain deployed for over three years.”

– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com