Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> has removed former <keyword id="460944" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Malaysian-Prime-Minister">Malaysian Prime Minister</keyword> Mahathir Mohamad's controversial tweet glorifying violence even though France is demanding suspension of his account on the social media platform.<br /><br />The former Malaysian PM sparked an uproar when he said on Thursday that Muslims have a "right to be angry and to kill millions of French people".<br /><br />Twitter has removed the tweet saying that it violates the platform's rules. Earlier, Twitter allowed the tweet to stay "in the public interest".<br /><br />France's junior digital affairs minister Cedric O on Thursday night said he had a word with Twitter's Managing Director in France and called for the immediate suspension of Mahathir's official account.<br /><br />"If not, Twitter would be an accomplice to murder," the minister said on social media platform.<br /><br />Just a few hours after another French person was beheaded by an "Allah hu Akbar" sloganeering terrorist in France, Mahathir in a series of tweets on Thursday strongly justified the violent reaction of Muslims to the Charlie Hebdo caricatures of Prophet Mohammad.<br /><br />The former Prime Minister of Malaysia warned France, "Since you have blamed all Muslims and the Muslims' religion for what was done by one angry person, the Muslims have a right to punish the French. The boycott cannot compensate the wrongs committed by the French all these years."<br /><br />In the rest of his Twitter thread, he expressed disdain for the Western culture.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/kepler-estimates-there-are-at-least-300-million-potentially-habitable-planets-within-the-milky-way-galaxy/articleshow/78946863.cms">Kepler estimates there are at least 300 million potentially habitable planets within the Milky Way galaxy</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/mit-has-a-new-ai-model-that-can-detect-asymptomatic-covid-19-patients-just-by-the-using-the-sound-of-their-coughs-recorded-over-phone-calls/articleshow/78927475.cms">MIT has a new AI model that can detect asymptomatic COVID-19 patients just by the using the sound of their coughs recorded over phone calls</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/tata-communications-executive-explains-how-iot-is-expanding-beyond-manufacturing-and-which-sectors-are-showing-the-fastest-growth/articleshow/78924587.cms"><strong>EXCLUSIVE: Tata Communications’ IoT head explains how COVID is driving the next wave of Internet of Things</strong></a><br />

Twitter will be an 'accomplice to murder' if it does not suspend Mahathir's Twitter account, says France after hate tweet

<br /><ul><li><strong><keyword id="8695" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Malaysia">Malaysia</keyword>’s Prime Minister Mathahir Mohamad has decided to shelve $22 billion worth of China-backed projects, citing their infeasibility. <br /></strong></li><li><strong>The projects, which are part of <keyword id="1334" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>’s Belt and Road Initiative, were greenlit in 2016 by <keyword id="10203" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Najib-Razak">Najib Razak</keyword>, Mohamad’s predecessor who is at the centre of a money-laundering scandal linked to the country’s investment fund.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>Mohamad’s decision comes as a number of countries in Asia have taken on a unsustainable amount of Chinese debt for projects of strategic importance to China.</strong></li></ul>Following the conclusion of his trip to China, Malaysia’s new Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, made one thing clear: debt reduction is the need of the hour for the Southeast Asian country. On August 21st, Mohamad told media outlets that he would not be able to go ahead with $22 billion worth of China-funded <keyword id="17408" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="infrastructure">infrastructure</keyword> projects for the time being because his government simply couldn’t afford it. <br /><br />The projects, which are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, were greenlit in 2016 by Najib Razak, Malaysia’s embattled former Prime Minister who lost the election to Mohamad in May 2018. They involve the construction of a railway line, the East Coast Rail Link - which was estimated to cost $20 billion, and two energy pipelines. Mohammad also cited the high valuations and unreasonable terms of the project contracts as part of his rationale for pulling out. <br /><br />Malaysia’s national debt is estimated to total around $250 billion. Razak, who is at the center of a huge money laundering scandal linked to the country’s sovereign wealth fund, was routinely criticised for greenlighting expensive projects funded by China’s state-owned companies in return for “sweeteners” that helped him pay down debts related to the fraud. <br /><br /><strong>The China debt trap</strong><br /><br />Mohamad’s decision comes as a number of countries in Asia have taken on a unsustainable amount of Chinese debt for projects of strategic importance to China. The trend has sparked fears that China is using its Belt and Road Initiative to gain influence over smaller countries.<br /><br />At the end of last year, Sri Lanka had no choice but to hand over a 99-year lease for control of its <keyword id="212453" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hambantota">Hambantota</keyword> port, which is just a 100 miles from the Indian coast, to China after it was unable to pay back a loan. The transaction has gained prominence as a cautionary tale for other countries that are getting into bed with China. In December 2017, Pakistan withdrew a request to China for the funding off a <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/1558475/2-pakistan-stops-bid-include-diamer-bhasha-dam-cpec/">$14-billion dam project </a>owing to “unacceptable conditions”, opting instead to finance the project itself. <br /><br /><strong>A difficult exit</strong><br /><br />One of the goals of the Malaysian Prime Minister’s five-day trip to China was to stimulate Chinese investment. He did, however, make a clear stand that his government would not take on huge debts for projects unless they were completely necessary. <br /><br />Mohamad did add that the country could revive the aforementioned projects in the future should they become viable, although this was likely a diplomatic measure. His government will likely have to pay a substantial fee to exit the projects so in order to delay the payment they could just stall their exit. The first order of business though, is to recoup the funds that have already been spent on the projects. <br /><br />While this could lead to some commercial disputes, it seems that Mohamad has taken the right stand. After all, he was elected on a platform that involved the reduction of the country’s debt. It’s time to make good on his election promises. <br />

Wary of a debt trap, Malaysia’s government has backed out of three China-funded infrastructure projects

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>China's Muslim minority, the Uighurs, are subject to harsh surveillance, with many interned in prison-like detention camps and forced to work.</strong></li><li><strong>Beijing justifies this crackdown as a counterterrorism measure, and calls the internment camps "free vocational training."</strong></li><li><strong>Countries in the Muslim world have largely avoided confronting Beijing over this crackdown in the past, but the tide is turning.</strong></li><li><strong>More and more Muslim countries are openly calling out China over its human rights record.</strong></li><li><strong>Human Rights Watch's China director says the next step is for the countries to take action to persuade or punish Beijing.</strong></li></ul><p>More and more countries are standing up to China over its oppression of the Uighurs, the country's majority-Muslim ethnic minority.</p><p>Beijing is accused of interning up to 1 million Uighurs in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-camps-for-muslims-look-like-jail-cells-in-purported-video-2018-11">prison-like detention camps</a>, forcing them to renounce their religion and native language, and even <a href="https://apnews.com/99016849cddb4b99a048b863b52c28cb">pushing them into forced labor</a> with little to no pay.</p><p>Activists have found evidence of Chinese authorities <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/xianjiang-province-china-police-state-surveillance-2018-7">tracking Uighurs' cellphone activity</a> in their home region of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan.</p><p>Others say Beijing has demanded <span>demanded the Uighur diaspora&#xa0;</span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/china-compiling-uighur-muslim-global-database-reports-2018-8">hand over personal information</a>,<span>&#xa0;and threatened their families if they do not.</span></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Chinese authorities say the policies are a counterterrorism strategy, and that placing Uighurs in internment camps is "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-calls-xinjiang-uighur-detention-camps-free-vocational-training-2018-10">free vocational training</a>."</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-tries-to-cite-islamophobia-to-export-model-of-muslim-repression-2018-11">China is locking up its Muslim minorities, and pushing Islamophobia to get Europe to do it too</a></em></p><p>Until now,&#xa0;countries from the Muslim world <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-muslim-countries-arent-criticizing-china-uighur-repression-2018-8">have largely avoided bringing up China's Uighur crackdown</a>.</p><p>Experts say this was because countries feared economic retribution from China, or because many Arab states didn't want to draw attention to their own poor human rights records.</p><p>But the tide is turning.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2><strong>The crumbling wall of silence</strong></h2><p>In September, the federal minister for religion in Pakistan - China's closest economic ally in the Muslim world - openly criticized Beijing's regulation of Uighur activity, saying that the crackdown actually "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pakistan-criticizes-china-over-repression-of-muslim-uighur-xinjiang-2018-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">increases the chances of an extremist viewpoint growing in reaction</a>."</p><p>A month later, Malaysia - another major economic ally, and home to many ethnic Chinese - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/malaysia-defies-china-over-muslim-uighur-perscutions-beijing-furious-2018-10">ignored Beijing's requests</a> to deport a group of Uighurs imprisoned in the country.</p><p>Most prominently, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation -&#xa0; a consortium of 57 countries which calls itself &#xa0;"the collective voice of the Muslim world" - <a href="https://twitter.com/OIC_OCI/status/1072400713068744704">noted</a> in December "disturbing reports" of China's Muslim crackdown.</p><p>It said it hoped China "would address the legitimate concerns of Muslims around the world."</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-xi-jinping-is-attacking-religion-in-china-2018-11">Jailing Muslims, burning Bibles, and forcing monks to wave the national flag: How Xi Jinping is attacking religion in China</a></em></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>In countries where world leaders haven't stood up to China, there are prominent protests.</p><p><a href="https://nasional.sindonews.com/read/1363048/15/fadli-zon-pemerintah-indonesia-harus-bersuara-bela-muslim-uighur-1544864520">Prominent politicians</a> and <a href="https://en.antaranews.com/news/121350/indonesian-ulema-council-strongly-condemns-oppression-of-chinese-uighurs">religious figures</a> in Indonesia - the country with the highest proportion of Muslims in the world - are urging the government to speak up. It has so far refused to do so, <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/12/17/kalla-reasserts-indonesias-non-interference-stance-on-chinas-uighur-issue.html">saying</a> it that it didn't "want to intervene in the domestic affairs of another country."</p><p>Muslim groups in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-detentions-of-muslims-trigger-protests-in-islamic-world-1538040605">India, Bangladesh, and Kazakhstan</a> also staged multiple protests&#xa0;over the Uighur detentions this year.</p><p>People have been particularly vocal in Kazakhstan, as many ethnic Kazakhs are said to be imprisoned in the China's camps. The government in June <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/qishloq-ovozi-kazakhstan-confronts-china-over-disappearances/29266456.html">said</a> "an urgent request was expressed" over the welfare of Kazakhs detained in China, but there have not been any significant updates.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Western powers like the US, UK, and UN have criticised Beijing over its actions in Xinjiang in the past.</p><p>But the criticism of Muslim nations shows a turning tide in the world's attitude to China, said Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch's China director.</p><p>China has long batted away Western criticism, with state-run Global Times tabloid describing Western critics as "a <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1126028.shtml">condescending judge</a>" earlier this year. China's foreign ministry said a reported investigation by western diplomats into the Uighur issue was "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-slams-western-ambassadors-over-plan-to-grill-uighur-persecution-2018-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">very rude</a>."</p><p>Richardson said: "When governments like Indonesia or Malaysia ... or organizations like the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation speak up, China can no longer dismiss concerns about Xinjiang being some kind of Western conspiracy."</p><p>"That's very encouraging."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2><strong>The world is paying attention</strong></h2><p>The rising tide of outrage against China comes as more and more of the country's human rights record was brought to light this year.</p><p>This summer journalists, academics, and activists were taken aback by the disappearance of the Chinese "X-Men" actress <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/fan-bingbing">Fan Bingbing</a>, who Chinese authorities detained and kept from the public eye for three months over accusations that she evaded taxes.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/meng-hongwei">Meng Hongwei</a>, the Lyon-based president of Interpol, remains missing after being mysteriously detained in China in late September. His wife <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meng-hongwei-interpol-president-missing-china-answers-2018-11">thinks he could be dead</a>.</p><p>The New York Times also featured a story about the Xinjiang detention camps on its front page for the first time this September:</p><p>Richardson said: "Increasingly, governments are seeing the way in which China uses thuggish tactics at home and overseas on governments and citizens, and are starting to realize it's time to push back against it."</p><p>"Three months ago, if you were to tell me there would be critical language coming out of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, I would have suggested it was unlikely," she said.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2><strong>Next comes action</strong></h2><p>Muslim countries' speaking up against China over the Uighurs is a significant first step, but is not likely to do much by itself.</p><p>Countries now need to take concrete action to punish or persuade China to end their crackdown on the Uighurs, Richardson said.</p><p>"The question now is what everybody is willing to do," she said. "Talking and putting in consequential actions are two different things. That's where the game shifts next."</p><p>Countries will also have to be "mindful that China will fight it tooth and nail," she added.</p><p>Members of the Muslim world could demand independent access into Xinjiang to investigate reports of the detention camps, for example.</p><p>The United Nations has already been doing this for months, but Beijing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-tells-un-to-back-off-after-alleging-xinjiang-has-1-million-in-camps-2018-9?r=UK&amp;IR=T">told it to back off</a>.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Another form of punishment could come in the form of sanctions, or cancelling contracts.</p><p>Richardson, the Human Rights Watch director, noted that the latest spate of accusations against China came at a time when multiple Muslim countries started reassessing their economic ties with Beijing.</p><p>Malaysia <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/malaysia-axes-22-billion-of-belt-and-road-projects-blow-to-china-2018-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">axed $22 billion</a>&#xa0;of Beijing-backed infrastructure projects this August. Egypt's talks with a Chinese building company for a $20 billion development also broke down this week, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-16/china-s-20-billion-new-egypt-capital-project-talks-fall-through">reported</a>. Neither of those cancellations were over the Uighur issue.</p><p>A group of US bipartisan lawmakers last month <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.rubio.senate.gov_public_-5Fcache_files_1045ec83-2D597c-2D4418-2D9299-2Dcb5973dd24c8_997C1A8CB02CAABCEB7A415B11E8A6A2.dav18g88.pdf&amp;d=DwMFAg&amp;c=L93KkjKsAC98uTvC4KvQDdTDRzAeWDDRmG6S3YXllH0&amp;r=Unt1UKRirB_XlfpBmSNNWuLPnyNdMnHE2-JmOx-uFX4&amp;m=L6CBo4CKEsqMa_0EQAHz5AS5Y0H8uCs86L-1oP_jEKg&amp;s=TJ6kZozAeL0yfwr8o5FnEABZg3-3Cb-qangcd-aHrrk&amp;e=">introduced</a> the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act ("Uyghur" is an alternative spelling). <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-lawmakers-bill-punishing-china-over-uighur-muslim-persecution-2018-11">The act urges</a> the White House to consider imposing sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for the Uighur crackdown, as well as banning exports of US technology that could be used to oppress Uighurs.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>Chinese cash could be hard to quit</h2><p>Whether Muslim countries follow suit remains to be seen, however. China is the largest trading partner of 20 of the 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/muslim-governments-stay-silent-as-china-cracks-down-on-uighurs">Bloomberg</a>.</p><p>Pakistan, whose religious minister criticized China's Uighur crackdown this year, is also one of the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1438023">largest recipients</a> of Chinese aid and infrastructure contracts.</p><p>Earlier this month its foreign ministry rowed back the religious minister's comments, accusing the media of "trying to sensationalize" the Xinjiang issue, Agence France-Presse <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2178987/muslim-pakistan-says-outcry-over-chinas-xinjiang-detention">reported</a>.</p><p>Mohammad Faisal, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, also appeared to echo Beijing's line on the detention camps, saying that some Pakistani citizens who were detained in Xinjiang were "undergoing voluntary training" instead.</p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coast-guard-boot-camp-military-basic-training-cape-may-new-jersey-2018-12">Inside the Coast Guard's 8-week boot camp where recruits go through extreme physical tests and brutal 'smoke sessions'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A wall of silence around China's oppression of its Muslim minority is starting to crumble

You Searched For "Mahathir Mohammad" and got 3 results

Twitter will be an 'accomplice to murder' if it does not suspend Mahathir's Twitter account, says France after hate tweet

IANS

Wary of a debt trap, Malaysia’s government has backed out of three China-funded infrastructure projects

Dilsher Dhillon

A wall of silence around China's oppression of its Muslim minority is starting to crumble

Alexandra Ma

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides