KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed that he received an invitation yesterday from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to attend a special Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Riyadh.
However, Anwar said he is still considering the invitation from Mohammed, who is also the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.
“Yesterday, Prince Mohammed bin Salman informed me about a special OIC meeting in Riyadh and asked me to attend, so I replied, Insya-Allah, I will try.
“But I said there should be a bit more pressure; otherwise, it seems weak. Look at the statements from the United States and the United Kingdom when Israel attacked Iran -- they strongly urged Israel to stop. Then, in the next statement, they warned Iran not to retaliate. What kind of international relations is this?
“Is there justice? No. Is there humanity? None. So, with no justice and no humanity, how can we talk about international relations without addressing humanity and justice?” he said at the “Temu Anwar” programme at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) here today.
Also present were Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and UPNM vice-chancellor Lt Gen Datuk Mardzuki Muhammad.
At the same time, the Prime Minister said the world must exert stronger pressure to stop the brutality and oppression in Gaza and uphold justice in humanitarian values, especially for Palestine.
He vowed to remain steadfast in his stance although some foreign leaders have advised him not to be too “firm” on the Palestinian issue.
“Indeed, some of my friends have advised me, ‘Anwar, we are a small country; don’t be too firm.’ I am on good terms with (foreign leaders); in Vientiane (Laos), I met with Anthony Blinken (US Secretary of State) for an hour.
“We discussed investment, Gaza and Lebanon. The US said, ‘Don’t be friendly with Russia.’ I replied, ‘That’s your issue; don’t instruct us. We are an independent, sovereign country; we make decisions for our people and our nation,’” Anwar said.
