PUTRAJAYA: Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Richard Riot strongly denied today that he made a statement blaming Thailand for the border clash with Cambodia.
Riot said that his remarks were misinterpreted by journalists who interviewed him after he opened a symposium on the Dynamics of Youth and Terrorism in Bangkok organised by an agency under Wisma Putra.
“I was asked twice whether I blamed Thailand and I replied ‘No’.
“So I don’t know how come it was published in the papers that I blamed Thailand,” he told reporters here.
Riot was yesterday reported as saying that Malaysia blamed Bangkok for the clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops along the disputed border near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
Riot said the Malaysian embassy had told the Thai Foreign Ministry that his statement had been misinterpreted and the ministry had accepted the clarification.
He said that it was the Malaysian government practice not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, especially Asean members. – Bernama