PN accused of diplomatic faux pas over Kiwi PM's visit

Perikatan Nasional has been accused of diplomatic faux pas over a courtesy call with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday.

This includes allegedly falsely portraying who visited who during the meet after opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin said he “received” the courtesy call from Luxon.

Social media users alleged Hamzah had instead “paid” Luxon a visit, and highlighted a video in which the Kiwi premier told the opposition leader “thanks for coming by today”.

In the same video, Luxon also remarked “You (Hamzah) brought some friends,” which critics took to mean that the prime minister was not expecting the opposition leader to bring other leaders along to the meeting.

Responding to the first criticism, Hamzah’s private secretary Ahmad Ikhwan Fadhli said on X that the New Zealand High Commission had informed the opposition leader that Luxon had wanted to meet him.

However, he said those who expected Luxon to visit Hamzah’s office were "idiots".

“If you expect that the New Zealand prime minister will go to the opposition leader’s office, you are ‘dungu betul’ (an utter idiot). Zero diplomacy and respect,” Ikhwan said.

A first by Luxon

A post by Ikhwan yesterday hyping up Luxon’s decision to meet Hamzah was also criticised.

In the post, Hamzah’s aide said foreign leaders still wanted to meet with PN leaders even when they were in the opposition because of their calibre.

Critics, however, said it was a normal practice for visiting dignitaries to meet with the opposition - with some citing Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s meeting with the opposition in India last month as an example.

Cursory checks by Malaysiakini indicate that Luxon might be the first sitting foreign head of government or state to meet with the opposition while visiting Malaysia.

Previous diplomatic courtesy calls to the opposition, including Anwar, were done by diplomats or ministers.

In 2014 then US president Barack Obama declined to meet Anwar during the former’s first official visit to Malaysia.

However, in 2015 Obama reportedly urged then-prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to free Anwar after the latter was imprisoned over a sodomy charge.

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