MALE (Maldives): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak reiterated Malaysia’s total rejection of the move to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
He said Malaysia’s position was clear that it remained opposed to the unilateral declaration by the United States’ administration on the Jerusalem issue.
“On this issue, it is a total rejection of the unilateral declaration to make Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” he said at a joint press conference with Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom at the presidential office here.
Najib was on his last day of his two-day official visit to Maldives today.
The Prime Minister also held a one-to-one meeting with the Maldives president followed by bilateral delegation meeting involving Malaysia and Maldivian ministers and senior officials.
On the issue of Rohingya, Najib said he had conveyed to Abdulla Yameen that Malaysia was doing everything possible to ease the plight of the Rohingya refugees.
“Our position is very clear that something positive needs to be done to ensure injustice and persecution of Rohingya are stopped.
“They should be allowed to return to their homes,” he said.
Najib said Malaysia had yet to see positive results after Myanmar shared its commitment with Malaysia to resolve the Rohingya issue.
He said Malaysia and Maldives also shared a common position with respect to combatting violent extremism particularly “the evil ideology of IS (Islamic State).
“I have explained to the (Maldives) president some of the pre-emptive measures that we have introduced in Malaysia.
“We are on top of that but the threat is alive and it is a clear and present danger to Malaysia and the rest of the world,” he said.
Najib said the Maldives president had made a remark during their meeting that he considered Malaysia as a model of economic development.
He said the statement was a strong vindication of what Malaysian government was doing for the country.
“(It is a) third-party validator of such importance to us and I’d like to thank you (Maldives president) for giving the confidence that we are on the right track,” he said.
Najib said he also raised the subject of co-operation in developing halal products and services including Islamic tourism during his meeting with the Maldives president.
“We can cooperate to export (halal products) to third countries. We can also co-operate on Islamic finance as Malaysia is a leader in the area globally,” he said.
Malaysia and Maldives also signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) at the president’s office.
The MoU on the co-operation in the field of firefighting and rescue training, was signed by Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar and Maldives’ Defence and National Security Minister Adam Shareef.
MoU on the co-operation in the field of health was signed by Health Minister Datuk Seri S.Subramaniam and his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim.
MoU on the establishment of Maldives culture centre in Malaysia was signed by Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican and Maldives’ Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Mohamed Asim
The fourth MoU was signed by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh and Maldives’ Education Minister Dr Aishath Shiham, in the field of higher education.
Meanwhile, Abdulla Yameen said as two peace loving Islamic nations, “we agreed to increase our collaborative efforts to strengthen the solidarity of the Muslim ummah and promote the true values of Islam internationally.
“In particular, we discussed the situation in Palestine, as well as the dire plight of the Rohingya Muslims and agreed to collaborate more closely on these issues,” he said at the joint press conference.