JOHOR BAHRU: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today expressed disappointment and sadness over the backlash from some parties against the government’s move to bring injured Palestinians from Gaza to receive medical treatment in Malaysia.
He said some even went to extremes in criticising the noble effort when it was just a small act of compassion and kindness towards the Palestinian people who have been suffering and enduring Israel’s genocidal acts in Gaza.
What is worse, Anwar said some also asked him to go and become the prime minister of Palestine.
“Israel shoots, bombs, destroys houses, kills babies and women. Many Palestinians were injured, men were jailed, women were raped.
"And when we brought those injured here (for medical treatment), some people started to criticise, saying I shouldn’t be the prime minister of Malaysia, telling me to go be the prime minister of Palestine if I really wanted to help."
Anwar said this when officiating the closing of the Southern Zone Madani Rakyat programme at Dataran UTM, Skudai, today.
The prime minister said this was not the first time the Malaysian government had decided to help people from conflict-stricken countries.
"There are many others who came before them (the Palestinians) such as the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya and Acehnese refugees. We provided protection to them until the tension in their countries subsided," he said.
