DEFENCE Minister Mohamad Hasan told the Dewan Negara today the government cannot send a peacekeeping force to Palestine without getting a mandate from the United Nations (UN)

He said as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and UN, Malaysia has decided to wait for the decision by the global organisation and avoid acting unilaterally.

“Many have sent WhatsApp, written in social media asking why we are not sending soldiers to Palestine. This I need to clarify… We cannot arbitrarily send out our forces past the country’s borders.

“Remember, the moment our forces move across our borders, that is tantamount to a declaration of war on the country concerned. We are not in such a situation,” he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2024 at the Defence Ministry stage today.

Mohamad said the army had been acknowledged by the UN since Malaysia started participating in peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Timor Leste and the latest, as the Malaysian Battalion to Lebanon.

He said any decision to send a peacekeeping force was not determined by the Defence Ministry but was guided by a policy set by the Foreign Ministry.

Mohamad is confident that Malaysia would be among the countries to be asked by the global organisation to join a peacekeeping mission in Palestine if the UN, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation get the mandate from the Security Council.

“Based on this mandate and the government’s decision to be part of a peacekeeping mission, the ministry and I will not hesitate to send our forces,” he added.

The House will sit again on Monday. – Bernama, December 7, 2023