In a heated exchange Wednesday at Columbia University's World Leaders Forum, Malaysia's prime minister defended statements questioning the number of victims of the Holocaust, a stance widely accepted as anti-Semitic.
The newly installed prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, passed on the chance of taking back blog posts in which he said he was proud to be labeled anti-Semitic. Instead, he defended "free speech" when discussing World War II atrocities.
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"Why is it that I can't say something against the Jews when a lot of people say nasty things about me, about Malaysia, and I didn't protest. I didn't demonstrate," he said. "Well, we have to be willing to listen to views which are not in our favor because of free speech."
In speaking at the forum, Mohamad also addressed climate change, Rohingya and regional politics in Southeast Asia.
He expressed support for regional cooperation when confronting climate change.
"We hope that our neighbors would allow us to help them to put out fires," he said.
Also this week, Malaysia's central bank governor said financial institutions will be required to report their exposure to climate risks and the information it gathers could be used to set regulatory standards in Southeast Asia's third-biggest economy.
Economic losses from disasters in Asia and the Pacific could exceed $160 billion annually by 2030, the United Nations development arm estimated in a report last year.
The region experiences more natural disasters than any other, though Malaysia is largely spared. Between 2014 and 2017, nations in the region were affected by 55 earthquakes, 217 storms and cyclones, and 236 cases of severe flooding, according to UN data.
Mohamad seemed resigned to accepting his country's lack of power in the region.
"It's alright for them to claim," he said, referring to China's bid to take control of the South China Sea, "as soon as they allow ships to pass through."
