He also criticised Myanmay leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi for apparently standing by the actions of the Myanmar military against the Rohingya people.
“I am disappointed because it seems that UN is unable to help or solve the problems faced by the countries, because they view the events as internal problems,” he told reporters in New York this evening.
He criticised the UN’s lack of political will in handling wars and refugee crises, despite their successes in pushing for social and health policies.
Mahathir recalled a similar lack of international action when the Pol Pot regime “killed 2 million Cambodians, and no action was taken by anyone” between 1976 and 1979. “This time, this seems to be happening again,” he said.
Although the UN had denounced Myanmar for its persecution of the Rohingya, “the Myanmar government are unaffected and maintain that these were efforts to fight terrorists. This is what we are disappointed with, because we know that what is truly happening is a genocide,” he said.
During the special press conference with Malaysian media wrapping up his four-day working visit to New York, he also spoke on:
- meetings with the American public and private sector, whereby most had wanted to know the situation and policies in Malaysia;
- responses to his speech to the UN General Assembly last night: he believed many agreed with his strong statements, among them criticism of Israel’s persecution of the Palestinian people;
- a collaboration with Pakistan and Turkey to start an English-language news channel tackling Islamophobia;
- his suggestion for reforms to the veto power held by the permanent members of the UN Security Council;
- suggestions by investors to bring in more technology to upgrade the Multimedia Super Corridor, which he said had been overlooked by the previous governments.
On his Rohingya comments, Mahathir said he expected Myanmar to react negatively to his criticisms. “But we won’t care, because we have already tried to write to Aung San Suu Kyi but we found that my letter did not even get a response. And it seems that Aung San Suu Kyi is standing with the military and supporting the violent acts taken by them,” he said.
In his speech to the United Nations, Mahathir had urged the international community to bring about an immediate end to the Rohingya crisis.
According to the United Nations children’s agency, more than 900,000 Rohingya had fled Rakhine to Bangladesh after Myanmar’s armed forces launched a crackdown following attacks on security posts in 2017.
UN investigators have said the army campaign included mass killings and gang-rapes and was carried out with “genocidal intent”. The military denies almost all the allegations made by refugees during what it said was a legitimate counter-terrorism operation.