PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has denied rumours that a ship operated by Israeli shipping company ZIM was allowed to dock in the country.
This was following a news report by portal MalaysiaNow on May 3, which claimed that cargo ship ZIM Rotterdam docked at Port Klang on April 29 before departing for Shantou Port in China.
The report said this was based on their checks via Marine Traffic, an application that gives real-time information on ship movements worldwide.
Anwar said the person who allowed the Israeli company to enter was former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2002, when he was in power.
"No, we do not allow (the ship). We have banned them.
"Remember, the one who allowed the Israeli ship to dock in 2002 was Dr Mahathir when he was prime minister and he gave all kinds of excuses.
"They continued to dock here until my cabinet and I banned them. That is our stand, we will not allow them to dock here."
In December last year, the government imposed the ban on ZIM from docking at any Malaysian port.
Anwar had said the government also decided not to accept any ships flying the Israeli flag to dock in the country and would also not allow any ships en route to Israel from loading cargo at Malaysian ports.
Last week, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said he was not informed of the rumour, but reiterated the country's stand that ZIM was not allowed to dock in the country.
"We will conduct a thorough investigation, but our decision remains the same; we do not allow ZIM to dock."