‘Not a threat, rather an inquiry by the US’, says PN lawmaker
KUALA LUMPUR: It is inaccurate to equate the United State’s inquiry on Malaysia’s official stand on the Palestine-Israel conflict as a threat, says Wan Ahmad Fayshal Wan Ahmad Kamal (PN-Machang).
The Bersatu lawmaker said the move, a demarche, by the US was a normal practice in diplomacy.
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“It was not a threat, rather an inquiry by the US on our official stand (about Palestine). This is a common practice in diplomacy,” he told reporters at Parliament here on Tuesday (Oct 31).
Demarche is a formal diplomatic representation of one government’s official position, views or wishes over a situation.
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“The term ‘threat’ is serious. It meant an intimidation to the country. This was why we asked in the Dewan Rakyat, to which Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) said it was a demarche instead,” he added.
Earlier, Anwar during the Prime Minister’s Question Time said that the US had tried to exert pressure on Malaysia over its stance on the Palestine-Israel conflict.
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“I was informed by the Foreign Ministry that Malaysia received a demarche from the US Embassy on Oct 13,” he added.
On Oct 30, Malaysia was asked by the US embassy official to use diplomatic channels to urge a country to not take advantage of the conflict by using a proxy to get involved in the Gaza conflict.
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Wan Fayshal also said that there must be a motion in the Dewan Rakyat on condemning Israel’s war crime in Gaza.
“We have tried to put forward the motion but it was rejected. It’s fine. The government MPs must bring that motion, we will support,” he said.
On Oct 24, Wan Fayshal urged the Dewan Rakyat to pass a resolution for the government to push for a UN Security Council’s resolution to bring Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the International Crime Court as a war criminal.
Wan Fayshal is also urging Anwar to reveal more countries which the latter claimed had received pressure from.
“I have asked this (in a supplementary question), but it was not answered by Anwar.
“We urge Wisma Putra to provide us with an answer so we can counter respond in a form of protests against those countries,” he added.
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