Mat Sabu Chides Hadi Awang Over Rohingya Issue

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Former defence minister Mohamad Sabu has ticked off Abdul Hadi Awang over the latter's claim that the previous Pakatan Harapan government did not care for the Rohingya
The PAS president said yesterday that PAS and Barisan Nasional had once joined hands to solve the Rohingya refugees issue in the country, although the two parties were rivals at that time
Hadi, who is also the Prime Minister's Special Envoy to the Middle East, claimed that it's different from Harapan, where only its prime minister then, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, raised the issue in the United Nations as the rest of the leaders were busy facing the coalition's internal crisis
Mohamad, who is popularly referred to as Mat Sabu, brushed off the allegation, saying that he had raised concerns about Rohingya every time there was a meeting with his Asean counterparts
"I raised the Rohingya issue and stressed that the best way out must be sought to save the Rohingya, who were ousted from their land (in Myanmar)
"During a meeting with my counterpart in Qatar, we discussed how Qatar could play a bigger role and channelling aid notably to the Malaysian field hospital in the Cox's Bazaar," the Amanah president (photo, below) said in a statement
He added: "Hence, if Hadi Awang said that the Harapan government did not care about the issue surrounding the Rohingya, it's a huge slander and a lie."Among the leaders that he had met in his meetings during his term as defence minister, Mohamad said, were the United States defence secretary and his counterparts in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and China
Mohamad also reminded Hadi that the fatality involving 30 Rohingya refugees in the boat which tried to enter Malaysian waters happened during the rule of the Perikatan Nasional government
"How could Hadi lie about the Rohingya issue while Tun Mahathir as the (then) prime minister and I as the (then) defence minister had vehemently defended the Rohingya who were oppressed by Myanmar under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi
The issue pertaining to Rohingya surfaced after the authorities prevented boats ferrying Rohingya refugees from landing on the Malaysian shore recently
This action on the part of Malaysia invited a mix of criticism from many parties, including Amnesty International, which lambasted the authorities for barring the refugees from the country. - Mkini

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