INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
India has objected to Malaysian Prime Minister speaking out against its recent policiesKuala Lumpur / New Delhi: Trade ministers from India
and Malaysia are likely to meet on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos next week amid a palm oil spat
between the two countries, a Malaysian government spokesman told Reuters on Friday.India has repeatedly objected to Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad speaking out against its recent policies which critics say discriminate against Muslims
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation, is the second biggest producer and exporter of palm oil and India's restrictions on the refined variety
of the commodity imposed last week have been seen as retaliation for Mr Mahathir's criticism of New Delhi's actions.India's trade minister
Piyush Goyal denied on Thursday that the government was trying to hit out at Malaysia in particular
The row between the countries, nevertheless, pushed benchmark Malaysian palm futures to its biggest weekly decline in more than 11 years on
Friday.No agenda has been set for the proposed meeting between Mr Goyal and his Malaysian counterpart Darell Leiking on Friday, the
spokesman for Malaysia's Ministry of International Trade and Industry said, adding that the request for a meeting had come from India
An Indian government source said a meeting was indeed likely with Mr Leiking.A spokeswoman for India's trade ministry did not respond to a
Reuters reported on Thursday that Malaysia did not want to escalate the palm spat with India by talking of any retaliation for now, after Mr
Mahathir's media adviser called for tighter regulations on Indian expatriates and productsMalaysia instead wants to rely on diplomacy
A separate Indian government source said it was important for New Delhi also to talk things out with Malaysia
"We too have a lot to lose in Malaysia, there are 2 million Indian-origin people there," the source said
There were a total of 117,733 Indian nationals registered as foreign labour in Malaysia as at June 2019, accounting for nearly 6% of the
total foreign work-force in the country
Ethnic Malaysian-Indians are the third largest community in the Southeast Asian country.Another reason for frosty ties between the countries
is the continued presence of controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik in Malaysia, said one of the sources
The Islamic preacher, facing charges of money laundering and hate speech in India, has lived in Malaysia for more than three years and has
permanent residency in the country
He denies the Indian accusations.The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to talk to the media.
