DR Mahathir Mohamad said today he won’t retract statements he made about the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir at the United Nations General Assembly last month, amid reports that India is considering a trade ban. 

The 94-year-old prime minister said Kashmir has benefited from the UN resolution and that other countries also should abide by it. 

“All we are saying is that all should abide. Not just India, not just Pakistan but even America and other countries should abide by the resolutions of the UN. Otherwise, what is the good of having the UN?” he told reporters today. 

Dr Mahathir’s comments on Jammu and Kashmir – at the centre of dispute between India and Pakistan – drew New Delhi’s ire, with social media users even calling for a boycott on all Malaysian goods.

#BoycottMalaysia became one of Twitter’s top hash tags.

Yesterday, India’s top vegetable trade body Solvent Extractors’ Association of India advised its members to stop buying palm oil from Malaysia, a call to punish the country for criticising India. 

However, Dr Mahathir said he’s not planning on reporting India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), adding that he’ll find a way to deal with the traders.

“We’ll study the fact of their boycott but what is important is that their government was not saying anything or we will see what the government policy is going to be like. 

“This (boycott) is not the Indian government. So, we’ll have to find out how we can deal, communicate with this people because trade is a two-way thing.”

Malaysia is the world’s second largest producer and exporter of palm oil after Indonesia. 

India was Malaysia’s third-largest export destination in 2018 for palm oil and palm oil-based products. – October 22, 2019.