Prime Minister Najib Razak says it is too early to conclude on the effects of the policy of US President-elect Donald J Trump on the global economy, including Malaysia.

He said Trump might have realised that some of his statements or plans mentioned during the election campaign could not be realised because implementation would cause negative reaction from others.

"Trump is thinking about what he will do when he officially gets into office in January 2017," he said in the Question and Answer programme in conjunction with Umno General Assembly 2016.

Najib said despite the uncertain economy, the global community should not jump to conclusion on what would happen but wait until Trump starts his term as the president.

He also said that Trump was impressed by Malaysia’s economic growth.

“By coincidence, I was talking to President-elect Donald Trump two nights ago and he asked about Malaysia’s economy.

“I said our economy grew at 4.3 percent during the third quarter of 2016. He said, then Malaysia’s economy is very good. ‘America’s economy grew at one percent. I want to achieve 4 percent.’ That was the spontaneous reaction of the president-elect of America.”

However, Najib said the expected rise in interest rates in America and certain policies had implications on the world, not just Malaysia. This included the significant fall in the ringgit against the US dollar over the past few weeks.

“I discussed with the governor of Bank Negara this morning. I looked at his charts, there are other currencies which are worse than the ringgit. Some are better. We are in the middle. If we look at the basket of currencies, we have not gone down much, only in comparison to the American dollar.

“This is due to the effects of external factors which are outside our control. So I hope the people are not confused because these are external factors but what the government will do is to control the factors that we can control and to look for investment opportunities, for instance that was why I went to several countries like Germany. I went to China, I went to Japan, for what? To bring back investment to Malaysia and these are the efforts which we can make.”

'We alone can’t solve Rohingya crisis'

On the atrocities against the ethnic Rohingyas in Myanmar, Najib said that Malaysia alone cannot end this problem.

Instead, he said, the crisis over the infringement of basic human rights could only be resolved with the cooperation of the international community, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Asean and the United Nations (UN).

Asked about foreign interference in Muslim countries, Najib said it would be detrimental to Muslims as well as cause conflicts.

"When they interfere, of course there is a specific agenda, whether intentional or not. Of course they do not understand the conditions in Muslim countries," Bernama quotes him as adding in the interview.

The prime minister also stressed that in a democratic and sovereign country, the people must be free to choose their leaders and their own direction, and should not be influenced by outside parties.

He said according to reports by WikiLeaks and DCLeaks, American billionaire George Soros, through the Open Society Foundations, had provided funds to certain parties to create chaos, such as 'The Orange Revolution' in Ukraine and the Arab Spring.

"Certain parties had admitted receiving funds from the Open Society Foundations. So there really is foreign interference in our country," he said.

On a separate development, Najib condemned the actions of certain parties who play up parochialism among the people of Sabah and Sarawak, including claiming that the federal government was revoking their rights.

Reiterating his previous comments, Najib said the government was very committed to the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

"We are in the process of reviewing the agreement, and if we have done something which clearly revokes the rights of the people of Sabah and Sarawak, we are willing to correct it.

"However, the correction must be made within the Malaysian Constitution and the question of Sabah and Sarawak seceding, getting out, that is non-negotiable. Do not talk about it, because that is wrong under the law," Najib added.