The former Malaysian Prime Minister said India and Malaysia have shared good relations over the years.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in an interview with WION has admitted that relations between Malaysia and India deteriorated because of his comments on Kashmir. Mahathir also defended his Kashmir remarks. “It is not about supporting Pakistan, it is about the people of Kashmir,” he said.

In the interview, he said relations did take a downward turn because of his remarks, and other than that the relationship was very good under his leadership. Some minor glitches affected the relations but these strains were overcome very quickly, said the WION report. Mahathir pointed out that there are a lot of people of Indian origin in Malaysia and they still have connections with India.

The former PM hinted towards good relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his former counterpart was one of the earlier PMs who called him up when he won his second term.

“In many ways he has done well internationally but then of course we need to understand India better under Modi because he is different from previous prime ministers,” he told WION.

Mahathir said they had met a long time ago and had forgotten but PM Modi showed him a picture of them together from a long time ago, before he became the prime minister. “We always want to maintain good relations, whoever may be the prime minister of India.” he said.

Read the full report in WION