PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will no longer lend its support to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi over her handling of the Rohingya crisis, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The Prime Minister remarked that Suu Kyi seemed to be a “changed person” and he had lost faith in her.
“She did not want to say anything against the action taken by the (Myanmar) military against the Rohingya. So, we made (it) quite clear that we don’t really support her anymore,” he told host Ghida Fakhry of the Turkish international news channel TRT World on Saturday.
The interview was held at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York before he left for London.
Dr Mahathir said when Suu Kyi was under house arrest, Malaysia campaigned to get her released. But when he wrote to Suu Kyi, he did not receive any reply and was “very disappointed”.
“We have complained to the world about the treatment of the Rohingya. In fact, we have ourselves received quite a lot of Rohingya people in our country,” he said.
Dr Mahathir had addressed the UNGA on Friday over the state of the Rohingya.
He criticised the authorities in Myanmar and Suu Kyi for denying that the Rohingya people were being murdered, their homes torched and forcing over a million refugees to flee.
Dr Mahathir had also questioned the world for keeping silent on the massacres.
Several other countries have similarly criticised Suu Kyi. There have been calls to revoke the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to her in 1991, while Canada has stripped Suu Kyi of her honorary citizenship.
Soon after his arrival in London at midnight on Saturday, Dr Mahathir was briefed on the future direction of Group Lotus, which produces high-end sports cars and racing cars.
The closed-door briefing yesterday was given by Group Lotus chief executive officer Feng Qingfeng, who is also vice-president and chief technology officer of Geely Auto Group, Bernama reported.
Dr Mahathir was believed to have been given a glimpse of the mock model of the latest Lotus car.
China’s automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group purchased a 49.9% stake in Proton Holdings Bhd as well as 51% of Lotus, both owned by DRB-Hicom, last year.
Dr Mahathir is a former chairman of Group Lotus and Proton Holdings.
Also present at the briefing were Malaysian tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary and DRB-Hicom CEO Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar.
Soon after arriving for the briefing, Dr Mahathir inspected the new London electric taxi, which is also owned by Geely.
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