KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has conveyed its unwavering stance in supporting the Palestinian cause to United Nations (UN) secretary-general Antonio Guterres during a bilateral meeting held in conjunction with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Riyadh, last month.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said Malaysia had highlighted to Guterres about the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict and how it was not merely a religious issue, but a matter of humanity and injustice.
"After a meeting with several world leaders at the OIC summit in Riyadh recently, Malaysia had a bilateral meeting with Guterres, where he voiced his respect for the views given by our prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) towards the current conflict in Palestine.
"(In the meeting), I also highlighted to him (Guterres) that this is not a religious matter, but a matter of humanity and injustice. Malaysia's stance will remain the same even if such events occured in a non-Muslim majority country.
"The same happened when we stood for the people in South Africa who faced the outrageous and cruel apartheid system," he said during the ministry's winding-up speech for the 2024 Supply Bill in Dewan Negara, today.
Zambry added that Malaysia has remained unwavering in its stance on the issue for decades as it involves human rights.
"I mentioned to Guterres that Malaysia refuses to witness a country being discriminated against based on their race and this is something that we cannot allow. (And) these are some of the steps we have taken (in supporting the Palestinian cause)."
At the same time, Zambry said Malaysia's permanent representative to the UN has been instructed to participate in the upcoming discussions at the UN Security Council (UNSC).
This comes after Guterres on Dec 6 warned the UN Security Council that the war in the Gaza Strip may aggravate existing threats to international peace and security.
He also invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since he assumed the position in 2017 and said the current conditions were making it impossible for humanitarian operations to take place.
While repeating his call for a humanitarian ceasefire, Guterres wrote that the humanitarian conditions in the ongoing war are fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole.
"Following the statement issued by Guterres, I have directed that our Malaysian permanent representative participate in the upcoming discussions at UNSC.
"With his (Guterres) call, we hope that it will have a positive impact in addressing the ongoing conflict in Palestine," said Zambry.