KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia will never leave the Palestinian people to fight alone, but will continue to support them in their fight for their rights and to end the war atrocities committed by the Zionist regime, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.
The Umno president also congratulated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for being bold and vocal in expressing Malaysia's firm stance in support of the Palestinian people's struggle.
Zahid also congratulated Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who are Umno deputy president and vice-president respectively, for their successful contribution in bringing in injured Palestinians from Gaza to receive medical treatment at the military hospital in Malaysia.
He also expressed appreciation to the Foreign Ministry for its active role that led to the acceptance of Palestine's bid for full membership in the United Nations.
"This is proof that we don’t just play politics, we are committed. Insya-Allah, we will continue our support until Palestine can breathe the air of independence in the true sense of the word,” he said in his policy speech at the 2024 Umno General Assembly here today.
Meanwhile, Zahid said the government will continue to defend the sovereignty of Sabah from any claims.
In this context, he also congratulated Minister of Law and Institutional Reform Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said following the victory at the courts in The Hague in the Netherlands, France and Spain in the case over the Sulu Group's claim against Malaysia.
"This success means a lot to the sovereignty of Sabah. To our friends in Sabah, we will defend the land, we are not going to entertain any claim on Sabah. Sabah is a state in an independent country," he said.
Previously, the eight citizens of the Philippines, who claimed to be heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate, filed for arbitration proceedings in Spain to seek billions of US dollars from Malaysia over Sabah, and a court in Madrid had in March 2019 appointed Dr Gonzalo Stampa to be the arbitrator for the Sulu claimants' case.
In a bid to enforce the award issued by Stampa in May 2020, they were reported to have tried to seal the assets of national oil company Petronas in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, apart from targeting the country's diplomatic assets in France.
The Malaysian government, however, had aggressively countered the claim and had secured a decisive victory in the long-running dispute, as a result of favourable rulings by the Court in Luxembourg, the Hague Court of Appeal in the Netherlands, the Paris Court of Appeal in France as well as in the Spanish Court.
In January this year, the rogue arbitrator Stampa was found guilty of contempt of court and was sentenced by the Spanish Court to six months in prison. The court also banned him from practising as an arbitrator for a year. - BERNAMA