Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said while Malaysia regards China as a friend and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has benefitted the country, it is not for Malaysia to promote Beijing's ideology to our children.

He said this in reference to attempts to circulate a comic on the BRI by former DAP activist Hew Kuan Yau in schools, which the Education Ministry has put a stop to.

Mahathir said while we support the idea of one belt, one road - but we have to find exactly what this means. We cannot just, without proper study, give 100 percent support to this idea,"