NEW YORK, Sept 28 — Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey will set up an English news channel to correct the misconceptions about Islam, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“(Pakistan premier) Imran Khan, (Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and I discussed the challenges facing Islam and Muslims.
“We feel there are a lot of misconceptions about the teachings of Islam and also about Muslims.
“They label all Muslims as terrorists and people all over the world believe this to be true. On the contrary, Islam is not a violent religion.
“We felt that the three countries should explain what exactly Islam is so that there is no longer any confusion and we are not accused to be a religion that promotes terrorism.
“The Information Department of our three countries will work together on this,” he said, during a press conference with the Malaysia media here.
On his four-day working visit to New York, Dr Mahathir said that Malaysia’s views on Israel and Palestine, climate change and a proposal to impose sanctions on palm oil were well received by the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“I was given 15 minutes (to deliver my statement to UNGA) but I took about 30 minutes. But nobody complained,” he joked.
“During my four days here, I also met with a lot of investors. In general, they wanted to know more about the situation in Malaysia and our policies. I assured them our policy of being friendly with all nations remains.
“They also asked about my opinion on China. They seemed impressed by our ability to negotiate to reduce the ECRL contract by RM20 billion.
“Maybe more countries in a similar situation like us might try to reduce their debts with China,” he added.
Dr Mahathir also said that he was disappointed with the UN on its handling of issues like the Rohingya crisis because the world body considers it to be a domestic matter.
“We know it is not an action against terrorism as claimed by Myanmar but genocide. The world is not doing anything other than voicing its concern,” he said.
When asked about the possible backlash from Myanmar for Malaysia’s stance, Dr Mahathir said he was not worried.
“I had written to Aung San Suu Kyi but did not receive a reply. It looks like Suu Kyi is on the side of the military and defending the violence against the Rohingyas,” said the prime minister, who spoke at UNGA for the 11th time on Friday.
To another question, Dr Mahathir said that he has not seen changes in the UN over the years.
“In areas like social activities and humanitarian aid, and in the area of health, they have succeeded.
“But in the area of politics, like what we can see the UN is toothless,” he added.
