Hulu Langat MP: What more do you want from Anwar’s Saudi trip?

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Hulu Langat MP Mohd Sany Hamzah today asked what more the country wants from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this week.

Anwar’s visit had accomplished many things, from meeting with the International Islamic Bank and witnessing the sealing of three memorandums of understanding (MoUs), to meeting with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and discussing issues faced by the Islamic world, Mohd Sany said in a statement.

"So it is not the country, the people or the Opposition that should be sad when Anwar was unable to meet with the Saudi leader but Anwar himself.

"The duty for the country and the people, including the Opposition, has been successfully completed by Anwar in this visit in the best possible way,” he said.

He asked what the country and its people would have gotten if Anwar had been invited to enter the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site in Mecca, as Bersatu’s Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal wanted.

Mohd Sany said that a function of the visit of a country’s leader to other countries is to successfully build good relationships with the country they visit.

He also said not to dismiss the meeting that Anwar had with OIC secretary-general Hissein Brahim Taha as the organisation’s role was a large one in the Islamic world.

"In that meeting, many issues were discussed, among them the issue of Palestine, Afghanistan, Islamophobia, the southern Thai and Philippine peace talks, as well as several other issues faced by Muslims currently,” he said.

Earlier today, Community Communication Department (J-Kom) director-general Mohammad Agus Yusoff today urged all parties to stop politicising Anwar’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

He said if the Opposition is unhappy with the results and costs of Anwar’s visit, they can always bring it up to him during the Prime Minister’s Question and Answer (PMQ) session in the Dewan Rakyat.

Yesterday, Bersatu’s Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal called for Anwar to inform Parliament about the outcome of his official visit to Saudi Arabia after it appeared he did not meet with his counterparts there.

Anwar began his official three-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. He was accompanied by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.