MIRI: Sarawak PAS today pledged full support to the federal government’s decision to ban Israeli swimmers from competing in the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships scheduled to be held in Kuching in July.
Sarawak PAS Commissioner Jofri Jaraiee said the decision would not give any negative impact on the country as Malaysia never had diplomatic relations with Israel and that it also showed Malaysia’s firm stand against Israel’s blatant atrocities against the Palestinians.
“Other countries can compete in the championships, no problem. Sarawak PAS fully supports the federal government’s stand to ban Israeli athletes from entering Malaysia, especially Sarawak, even for sporting purposes,” he said in a statement here today.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his keynote address at international conferences in Senegal and Austria recently said that Malaysia cannot accept Israeli athletes as they come from a criminal country.
He said people who are undesirable to the country must be kept out and this included people suspected of being terrorists and the like. — Bernama
