KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that he is concerned over news that India has stopped buying Malaysia’s palm oil.
Nevertheless, Dr Mahathir said he stands by his criticism of the country over the situation in Kashmir and India’s controversial new citizenship law, which is deemed discriminatory to Muslims.
The Prime Minister said: “If something (is) wrong, you have to say it (is wrong)”, Bernama reported.
“If we allow things to go wrong, and think only about the money (at stake if one speaks out), a lot of wrong things will be done,” he told reporters after attending the Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd’s (Bank Rakyat) Integrity Forum 2020 here, today.
Dr Mahathir was responding to queries over India’s reported move to stop buying Malaysian palm oil in retaliation for his criticism of the country.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister said that a solution to the issue needs to be found, as worries over the impact of the ban on the local palm oil industry mount.
“That is something we have to do, which is to find a solution.
“But the fact is that what happens in India today is causing more problems and unhappiness among the people there,” he said, adding that “the whole world feels that it is wrong to discriminate against anybody there.”
According to foreign media reports, Indian palm oil importers were privately told by its government to stop purchasing palm oil from Malaysia and shift to Indonesian sellers instead.
The reports said that orders from India for the edible oil from Malaysia had all but stopped.
However, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok refuted the reports on Monday.