MALAYSIA allowed 11 ethnic Uighur Muslims to leave the country because they had not committed any crime in the country, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“They have done nothing wrong in this country. So they were released,” the prime minister told reporters in Parliament today.

On ignoring China’s response to the issue, Dr Mahathir said: “We have to wait”.

Beijing had requested Malaysia to deport the group to China.

The 11 Uighur men were part of a group of 25 who escaped immigration detention in Thailand before fleeing to Malaysia.

In the breakout, 25 members used blankets to climb out of their cells from an immigration detention centre in southern Thailand.

The 11 were caught and charged with illegal entry before they were freed and allowed to fly to Turkey last Tuesday.

The prime minister earlier told Fong Kui Lun (PH-Bukit Bintang) that during his recent visit to China he had met with government officials and business people, both Chinese and Malaysians with investments there.

“We welcome foreign investments that are genuine and mutually beneficial to both countries. 

“That is the foundation for further negotiations between both nations, including talks to resolve the billions in debt incurred by the previous administration that are burdensome and not beneficial to the country,” he said.

Dr Mahathir did not name the “burdensome” projects, but it is understood he was referring to the East Coast Rail Link project that has been shelved. Malaysia also recently cancelled two gas pipeline projects with China.

 “We encourage investments from China but they must provide jobs for Malaysians, use local raw materials and transfer technology to local industries.

“Investors cannot bring foreigners to live in Malaysia.”

Dr Mahathir said China had said it would import an additional 500,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia as long as the price was reasonable.

He said China and its advanced achievements had given Malaysia many ideas in agriculture, automotive, drone and information technology.

“China’s research and experience can help Malaysia improve our way of doing business,” he said, adding that IT giant Alibaba Group had agreed to provide e-commerce training to small- and medium-sized industries.

Dr Mahathir said Proton and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group had also inked agreements for the Chinese carmaker to transfer technology to Proton.

In his meetings with the Chinese and Malaysian business community in China, he said he had assured them that bilateral ties between the two nations would be further strengthened under the PH administration.

Dr Mahathir said he had told Chinese leaders that Malaysia supported the One Road One Belt initiative and that all their ships could traverse the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea without Malaysian interference.

To a supplementary question from Fong on the 30% drop in Chinese tourist arrivals during China’s Golden Week holiday from October 1 to 7 this year, he acknowledged there was a drop which he said could be because the Chinese had preferred to travel domestically during the break.

“We are confident that their numbers will increase after this, as usual.” – October 15, 2018.