Former defence minister Mohamad Sabu and his former deputy, Liew Chin Tong, have urged Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin not to aid Saudi Arabia's ongoing war in Yemen again.
In a joint statement, the duo outlined several alleged wrongdoings during the previous BN administration, which saw Malaysian troops participate in the clandestine Ops Yaman 1 and Ops Yaman 2.
"The lives of our military personnel also cannot be put at stake solely for political interests.
"In efforts to preserve relations between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, we hope Malaysia will not be involved again in the war in Yemen," said Mohamad (above) and Liew.
The duo explained that before Ops Yaman 1 and Ops Yaman 2, the Malaysian Armed Forces are only deployed overseas for peacekeeping operations mandated by the United Nations.
Muhyiddin is currently on a working visit to Saudi Arabia, where he is slated to have a video conference with Saudi ruler King Salman and a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
When Ops Yaman 1 took place, Muhyiddin was deputy prime minister while Hishammuddin Hussein was defence minister in Najib Abdul Razak's cabinet.
Hishammuddin is currently the foreign minister in Muhyiddin's cabinet. Muhyiddin's visit to Saudi Arabia was preceded by Hishammuddin's visit a month earlier.
In December 2018, Liew told Parliament that Ops Yaman 1 was supposed to be a humanitarian mission involving 43 military personnel and two C130 transport aircraft, beginning on April 6, 2015.
The mission was to extract Malaysians stranded in war-torn Yemen while being based out of Riyadh. However, that team grew to 89 by June 15, 2015 - then renamed Ops Yaman 2. A total of 12 groups were given three-month tours of duty.
The military personnel were involved in flying ammunition and explosives for the Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen, which has killed at least 100,000 and displaced millions.
Parliament was told that Ops Yaman 2 did not receive cabinet approval and was terminated by the Pakatan Harapan government in September 2018.
Mohamad and Liew said that it was "unfortunate" that in 2015, Hishammuddin had ignored Malaysia's neutrality in the Saudi-Yemen conflict.
This, said the duo, was despite the existence of an internal memo between the Policy and Strategic Planning Division of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces Headquarters, stating that the government was advised that the involvement of the MAF in the war in Yemen would tarnish Malaysia's international image as a neutral country.
Given that Ops Yaman 2 did not receive cabinet nor parliamentary approval, Mohamad and Liew said it was clear that Ops Yaman 2 was wrong in principle and violated executive procedures. - Mkini
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