LETTER | The move by the Malaysian government to ban the entry of Israeli para-swimmers for the scheduled 2019 World Para-Swimming Championships in Kuching in July, which eventually cost the country the hosting job, is fitting and timely.

Despite heavy international criticisms, Malaysia should be able to, as Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has insisted, “fight back against Israel for its war crimes”.

After all, Malaysia, which does not have any diplomatic relations with Israel, in addition to not recognising the latter, has every right to defend itself. The para-athletes could be Mossad agents in disguise and they could create havoc in the country had they been allowed to participate in the event.

Accordingly, the country needs to continue to protect itself in addition to fighting against human rights violations and war crimes in other countries starting with banning those nations’ athletes and citizens and halting diplomatic relations with them.

During the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945, thousands of people in Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo (all now a part of Malaysia), were killed, maimed, raped and humiliated by the occupying Japanese military. To date, the Japanese government has never apologised for the war crimes and atrocities. Malaysia should have cut relations with Japan once it became independent but it is not too late to do so now.

But then again, yes, the past is past, we must forgive and forget. After all, Japan is a really a “big brother” to Malaysia, economically. So Japan can be pardoned for her sins.

Thousands of Filipinos were killed during the human rights abuse-filled rule of dictator Ferdinand Marcos from 1965 to 1986, but the Philippines was and still is Malaysia’s buddy in Asean. Why didn't Malaysia cut relations with the Philippines then? And remember, BN was the government then, so, as stressed by Syed Saddiq, we would need to ask BN about that issue.

During Saddam Hussein’s reign in Iraq, he orchestrated chemical weapon attacks on the Kurdish Muslim community in the eighties. Still, sportspeople from Iraq could compete freely in Malaysia at that time. Yes, again, we did not meddle with the internal affairs of another country despite the thousands killed. After all, BN was the government then, so they would need to answer about that

In 1989, the Chinese government committed human rights violations and caused the deaths of thousands of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Malaysia never cut diplomatic relations with China and the relations are getting stronger by the year now. And the government then was …?

In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew alleged that his nation Singapore, the US, Thailand, China and Malaysia had spent US$1.3 billion in the eighties to support the Khmer Rouge regime and other non-communist guerrillas in then Kampuchea (now Cambodia) to fight Vietnamese troops.

The thing is, the Khmer Rouge went on to massacre millions of Kampucheans from 1975 to 1979 and if what Lee said was true, why did Malaysia not cut relations with Kampuchea then for war crimes and atrocities?

It’s in the past, yes, but we need to ask the previous government about that too.

Before he was elected US president, Donald Trump called for the ban of Muslims entering the US. Now that he is president, Malaysia should punish him by cutting relations with the US, both diplomatically and economically. No American should be allowed to enter Malaysia for any reason. The previous BN government had failed to do that, so it is a great opportunity for the current government to finally punish Trump and the US, although America is definitely a much bigger “brother” to Malaysia than Japan.

Syria, under the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, had committed war crimes and human rights abuses on Muslims during the recent Syrian civil war, killing innocent civilians. But still, Syrian sportspeople are able to compete in Malaysia. It is perhaps the fitting time to “fight back” against the regime by cutting relations with Syria.

The Myanmar government had committed massacres on Muslim Rohingyas, something Malaysia is very much aware of. However, during the last AFF Championships, the Myanmar football team played against Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. It’s high time Malaysia “fight back” and side with the Rohingyas by ending diplomatic and economic associations with Myanmar.

Malaysia needs to “fight back” to teach a very hard lesson to countries that regularly breach human rights and commit war crimes, practice racial and religious prejudice.

Although Malaysia stopped recognising Republic of China, Taiwan, in 1974, Taiwanese citizens can easily visit Malaysia and compete in sports events in the country and there is an economy worth billions between the two nations every year.

This is a double standard policy for the country that should be.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.