'Difficult to make out what he wants to do': Mahathir tells Trump to be consistent
27 September, 2018
NEW YORK: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Wednesday (Sep 26) that there is a need for United States President Donald Trump to be consistent, including over policy matters on Asia.
"Be consistent. If you want to fight us, say you want to fight us," said the 93-year-old leader.
"If you don't want to fight us and you want (us) to be friends, say so and (let's) be friends," said Mahathir, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Mahathir was responding to a question during a meeting with the US Council on Foreign Relations, on what his advice to Trump would be with regards to his approach to policy.
When asked about his assessment of Trump, Mahathir said he did not know how to make any opinion about the president.
"Because he changes his views even in a matter of hours," he explained, citing Trump's fluctuating stand over whether or not to hold a meeting with the leader of another country as an example.
"So it's very difficult to make out what he wants to do. Dealing with people who are not consistent is a very big problem," the prime minister said.
Mahathir said he had the impression that the US president "doesn't not know much about Asia and therefore he makes decisions that are not based on realities of the facts on the ground".
"And he seems to be thinking about America and thinking only how to make America great again. He's not thinking about foreign relations," he added.
The Malaysian prime minister pointed out that the US response to any particular crisis "is to send warships" which he thought was not a very good idea.
"It creates tension, it's a kind of provocation. That's why Malaysia has expressed its foreign policy in terms of not having warships stationed in that area," he said, referring to key waterways of the South China Sea and the Strait of Melaka.
When asked about how the balance of power would look like in Asia and the world in the future, he said: "Fifteen to 20 years from now would mean that Mr Trump is not going to be around. I think that other Americans are quite reasonable people. People realise that peace is better than war."