JEDDAH: Malaysia is moving to address the repercussions of hastily-made decisions by past administrations to shut down initiatives in Malaysia that were sponsored or backed by its global friends.
One of them is the Saudi-backed King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP), which was closed down in 2018, just over a year after it was launched by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, during a visit to Malaysia in March, 2017.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government could not defend such arbitrary closures of centres such as the KSCIP, which was not even brought up for discussion.
"It is of great concern to me, the way these closures and cancellations were done. Any government has the right to decide ... but when it involves close partners, there must be at least prior discussions. This was not done.
"I had expressed to Saudi Arabia and their representatives in the past, that we are open to talks on the suitable structure and parameters, if Riyadh wants to revisit this," he told reporters when asked if Riyadh was slighted by Kuala Lumpur's decision then, to cancel the initiative, without an explanation.
Anwar said Malaysia remained cordial in its relations with all Muslims blocs, as it is with all nations across the globe.
The decision by the then-government to shut down the centre drew flak from this part of the world, with suggestions that it would impact Malaysia amid the threat of growing extremism and violent terrorism in the Muslim world.
The KSCIP was established to curb the spread of extremism and militant ideologies, including by the Islamic State (IS) group. Its establishment would have put Malaysia, along with Saudi Arabia, at the forefront of the fight against radicalism and violent extremism.
Anwar is in Saudi Arabia for a three-day official visit and is scheduled to return home today.