‘Better not have warships in M’sian waters,’ says Dr M

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it is better not to have any warship present in the Straits of Melaka and South China Sea.

Speaking at a media conference after chairing the Cabinet meeting at Perdana Putra here yesterday, he said the presence of warships in Malaysian waters would lead to “unhealthy situations".

Replying to a question on his decision to not allow any foreign warship in the South China Sea and Straits of Malacca, Dr Mahathir viewed the matter as "not healthy".

"This is because some other countries (when) seeing some countries having warships there, are already saying that they should have their warships in these areas (too), and it is not healthy," he said.

Dr Mahathir was quoted in a report in relation to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as saying: "We have no problem with that (BRI), except of course we would not like to see too many warships in this area because (a) warship attracts other warships."

On developments regarding the incident on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which was shot down in Ukraine, the Prime Minister said follow-up action would be taken following the latest investigation on the ill-fated aircraft.

"The Attorney-General's Chambers together with the Foreign Ministry will study in detail follow-up action that could be taken against the party responsible based on the criminal investigation on MH17,” he said.