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Questions raised about UNHRC abstention in Malaysia

Questioned over the country's decision to abstained on the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, Malaysia's Foreign Affairs deputy minister, Richard Riot, stated that Sri Lanka's problems were too complex to solve in a short time, however, reiterating that "if during the period of reconciliation, that they don’t achieve peace, then the international community will meet and vote whether they will interfere or not.”

However, many MPs were not satisfied with Riot's response.

Klang MP, Charles Santiago, criticised the LLRC as "weak", whilst the Ipoh Barat MP, M Kulasegaran, stated that it was "shameful" for Malaysia to have abstained.

Kulasegeran said,

I compare, these are irrelevant countries. They are substandard [in] human rights values and so forth. Can we compare to them?

“No. Malaysia is entirely different. Our standard is very high, our per capita income is very high. The expectation of the world is very high and we are a member of the Human Rights Council.”

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