The Indian government's recent action in summoning the acting Malaysian high commissioner has not jeopardised the relationship between both countries, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said today.

The summons was an established practice undertaken by any country to get a detailed explanation on an issue and in this connection, the recent summons was for the specific purpose of discussing India's Citizenship Amendment Act, he said.

"We don't know whether India is satisfied or not but our (acting) high commissioner stated the country's position which is to be friendly with all nations irrespective of background and ideology," he told reporters after visiting Terminal Kuantan Sentral in Kuantan today.

"We even have good relationships, from economic aspects, with non-democratic countries. We do not interfere with the affairs of a country but when an incident or issue transpires, which in our view, raises questions about democracy, freedom, human rights and the constitution, we may need to convey our views." 

On Dec 22, the media reported that the Indian government had summoned the acting Malaysian head of mission in New Delhi to convey its official protest against a statement made by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad concerning the country's citizenship law.

Saifuddin, who is also Indera Mahkota MP, added that relations between both countries were not jeopardised because in general, a government could distinguish between political statements made by its leadership on a particular country and the economic and business ties it had with that country.

In this connection, he cited the example of Malaysia's relationship with Myanmar. "They (Myanmar) know our stand on the Rohingya community but at the same time, our business people continue to trade normally there."

On the stand taken by NGOs in Malaysia in reference to India's new citizenship law, the minister said they could do so in line with freedom of expression but the organisations did not represent the Malaysian government.

On another matter, Saifuddin said six development projects had begun in Taman PSJ, Taman Bandar, Pantai Batu Hitam and Astaka Beserah in Kuantan, with an allocation of about RM4 million from the Economic Affairs Ministry.

He added that discussions had also been undertaken with the Kuantan Municipal Council on other upgrading projects as part of preparations to upgrade Kuantan, which includes the Indera Mahkota constituency, to city level. — Bernama