KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has agreed with Saudi Arabia's King Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s view to have the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) convene a full meeting to discuss current pressing issues affecting the Muslim ummah.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this was the outcome of a conference call he held tonight with the Saudi monarch, ahead of the Kuala Lumpur Summit (KL Summit) 2019 here.
The conference call was made to enable King Salman to explain the reason why he was declining an invitation to attend the summit.
Although three heads of state and governments have confirmed their attendance at the summit, invitations had been sent out to leaders of more than 50 Muslim countries.
"His Majesty the King of Saudi Arabia (King Salman) wanted to explain why he would not attend the summit. He told me the reasons why he cannot attend the summit," Dr Mahathir told reporters when asked about his conference call with King Salman.
The last-minute conference call led to organisers canceling his dialogue which was initially planned at the Youth Kuala Lumpur Summit this evening.
Dr Mahathir said the KL Summit 2019 would still continue with the involvement of the current list of participating nations.
"He (King Salman) holds a different opinion from us. His opinion is that it will be better if such matters are discussed in a full OIC meeting. But we are conducting this summit with (the heads of governments of) three countries only. So, that is his (King Salman's) reason.
"He is of the opinion that such matters should not be discussed only among two or three nations. (He says) there should be an OIC meeting. I agreed with him," said Dr Mahathir, while reiterating his stand that the KL Summit was not meant to take over the role of the OIC.
He said Malaysia is ready to work and cooperate with other Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia when the full OIC meeting is held.
He said despite King Salman's and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's absence from the summit, many other Muslim nations had sent their representatives and delegates to attend the five-day event.
Dr Mahathir also said that there were pressing issues such as the advent of Islamophobia, and the unfair views of people who associate the religion with terrorism which needs to be quickly addressed.
"Muslims today are being tortured, imprisoned, killed. In India, there will be laws that will discriminate against Muslims. People can simply do all sorts of things to Muslims because we are weak and unable to defend ourselves."
When asked about Imran Khan's no-show at the summit, Dr Mahathir said that was the latter’s prerogative.
"That's his choice, there is no compulsion. He probably could not attend because he had something else to attend to."
He also lambasted a report in Pakistan Today which claimed that the KL Summit aimed to take over the role of the OIC.