Any attempts by the new Perikatan Nasional government to improve relations with India should not compromise on principles of justice, said a local Muslim NGO coalition leader.
Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organisations president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid (above) noted that trade considerations, while important, should not be at the expense of defending oppression of India's Muslim minority.
"If a close relationship is to be established with India which is considered to be a superpower, it should not compromise the principles of justice just because Malaysia wants to increase the sale of palm oil to India.
"Malaysia's relations with any country, in order to create trade engagement, cannot ignore the concerns of those who are denied of their rights, to the extent that Malaysia remains silent and not express its support for the oppressed," he said alluding to reported violence in India's capital of New Delhi.
The uprisings were linked to reported weeks-long sit-ins in Delhi against India's new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which opponents say discriminates against Muslims, who were attacked by Hindu nationalists.
Aside from Delhi, Mohd Azmi also noted Malaysia's position against long-standing oppression of Muslim minority groups in Kashmir, a situation he likened to the state of Palestinians versus Israel's Zionist regime.
"Even the Israeli Zionist model of persecuting the Palestinians is being used by the India government against the people of Kashmir.
"The relationship of the Hindu nationalists, led by an RSS-based body that championed the concept of Hindu supremacy (Hindutva), with the Jewish Zionist group that is implementing the agenda of Judaisation, the Jewish supremacy in Palestine, is now determining the fate of the Muslim minority in India," he said.
Mohd Azmi was responding to reported statements by newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the agro entrepreneur and commodity minister that Malaysia should improve relations with India.
Last December, it was reported that the Indian government had summoned the acting Malaysian head of mission in New Delhi to convey its official protest against a statement made by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad concerning the country's citizenship law.
Then foreign affairs minister Saifuddin Abdullah, who was appointed as communications and multimedia minister in the new PN administration, however, said bilateral ties were not jeopardised with the move.
In the same month, India, the top global palm oil buyer, imposed restrictions on imports of refined palm oil from Malaysia, a move sources said was retaliation against criticism of New Delhi's actions in Kashmir and the new citizenship law.
Traders had also held off buying crude palm oil from Malaysia.
Malaysia's latest palm export data revealed the impact of India's restrictions, with shipments to India in January falling 85 percent from a year earlier to 46,876 tonnes, the lowest since 2011. - Mkini
Come on, didn't you hear what muhyuddin said. Politics first principles are not important
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