Mahathir regrets people use money, time to invent weapons

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today expressed his disappointment that people nowadays spend more money and time for research on inventing weapons than other useful needs.

He said in the advancement of technology and innovation today, people had bad moral values and were making use of power that they have in a wrong way.

"Today, I am sad to say that every single new discovery is on how to kill people. We see the explosives being used for all kinds of weapons in order to kill people.

"The microchip (for example) is just a collection of transistors that is very much plagiarised. If it is not for the good of humanity, I don't think it should be used in our knowledge and our power to do those things (killing people)," he said during the question-and-answer session after his keynote address at the Perdana Leadership CEO Forum 2019 in Kuala Lumpur today.

Giving the example of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima) 2019, in the aspect of technology and innovation, he expected it to be a small show with small aircraft.

"We had Lima. I wanted Lima to be a small show, small aircraft but now you see all those big jet fighters, we glorify them," he said.

The prime minister said the money should be used for research on treatment for cancer or other diseases.

Meanwhile at the media conference, Dr Mahathir criticised the statement of counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who claimed yesterday that the defence had not deliberately delayed the trial of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Mahathir considered the delay in continuing the proceedings on the trial concerning SRC International Sdn Bhd, lasting almost six months, as something unusual.

“If the case is of strong public interest, it should be heard as soon as possible,”he added.

IPCMC - an independent commission

In another development, Mahathir said the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) was free to carry out investigations into the enforcement agency and that the government would not interfere.

He said this when commenting on the proposal for the IPCMC to be established to investigate the case of the disappearance of pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat, which allegedly involved the police’s Special Branch (SB), according to a report released yesterday by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).

"Whatever complaint that we receive about the police, we will have to tackle. IPCMC is an independent commission, therefore we don't know what they want to do and it is up them to decide," he added.

Yesterday, Suhakam concluded that the cases involving Koh and Amri seemed to be enforced disappearances which might involve government agents such as the Special Branch.

Suhakam Commissioner Mah Weng Kwai said his findings were based on the commission of inquiry on their disappearance.

Asked on the fate of Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB), the prime minister said the government was still studying various proposals on the national airline company.

“We are still scrutinising numerous proposals (received). There are some who say that we should sell, some say we should sell half. Some say form a joint venture with other countries, all these are being considered by the government,” he said.

- Bernama