Global Issues
MIDEAST: Malaysia Exercised Over Gaza
As an economically advanced country that seeks a key role in the Muslim world, it is perhaps natural that Malaysia and its people are exercised over Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
Malaysia has taken a lead role in persuading the United Nations to hold a special session on Gaza and this initiative has fructified, according to an announcement by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi on Wednesday.
Abdullah said that he is in receipt of a letter dated Jan. 12, from Miguel Brockman, president of the U.N. General Assembly, saying that a session would be called on Thursday.
Brockman said, in the letter, that the session, originally set for Jan. 8, had to be postponed because of the U.N. Security Council meeting which passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Following the failure of the Security Council to get Israel to withdraw from Gaza, a sitting of Malaysia’s parliament was convened on Monday in which a 10-point resolution was passed which, among other things, called on the U.N. to hold a special session themed ‘Uniting For Peace.’
Meanwhile, ordinary Malaysians have been showing their anger in daily demonstrations, fund raising and a widening boycott of famous brand names like Starbucks and Coca Cola in the hope of hurting Israel’s principal backer, the United States.
Numerous organisations, from newspapers to universities, non-governmental organisations and even uniformed bodies like the police and army units, are raising cash and essentials like medicines, packaged food and blankets to be rushed to Gaza.
Highway toll operators have agreed to set up collection boxes at their toll plazas for motorists to donate to the Palestinian victims in Gaza. One minister has suggested filling a large ship with essentials, and landing it on the Gaza coastline.
Experts attribute the high levels of public anger to the prominence given by the national media to the events in Gaza, with television channels endlessly screening images of injured or dead civilians, especially children, without any censorship or scale back for viewer sensitivity.
Consequently, public demand to boycott U.S. goods (Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel) is taking on an ugly tone worrying major American enterprises like Coca Cola and Starbucks which have been incorrectly accused of supporting Israel in the war.
Both these companies and others are hoping to minimise the impact of a boycott, explaining they are locally incorporated, hire local workers and sell their products locally.
‘’Our product has no political content to it, we are non-political,’’ Coca Cola Malaysia said in a statement to counter criticism that it supports Israel. Starbucks also refuted allegations along the same lines.
Of greater significance is Malaysia suspending, on Tuesday, ongoing talks for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) worth billions of dollars with the U.S. This is the toughest step Malaysia has taken to press the U.S. to intervene and get Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
Experts said local political rivalry is also contributing to the unprecedented anger, strong words and large scale mobilisation to boycott American made goods.
Despite widespread mobilisation and venting of anger against Israel, there is still frustration among Muslims and non-Muslims alike that Israel can ignore international opinion because of U.S. support.
‘’U.S. support for Israel is so total that it can attack Gaza with impunity,’’ S. Arulchelvam, secretary general of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia, told IPS. ‘’There is mounting frustration that public action has no effect on Israel,’’ he said.
Arulchelvam advocates coordination with other countries to launch a simultaneous worldwide protest that includes boycotting of goods and services.
Prominent intellectual S. M. Mohamed Idris has urged the government to abrogate the FTA altogether as one way to show the U.S. that small nations like Malaysia matter. ‘’Where trade and commerce is involved it can hurt the aggressor,’’ he told IPS.
However, numerous trade organisations warned that a boycott is no answer because it would hurt the income of local businesses allied with U.S. multinationals and create local unemployment and even invite retaliation.
A similar boycott of American goods during the U.S. attack on Iraq had failed largely because the general public was not convinced that the U.S. was doing a bad thing by attacking an ‘evil’ nation like Iraq.
Five years later the public mood has changed and not only Muslims but Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Hindus have joined hands with Muslims to organise protests and raise funds for the injured.
In scenes not seen before, scores of Sikh temples are raising funds for the Palestinians; sending doctors to the border with Egypt along with Christian churches and Hindu temples in a show of unity not seen before.
Most political observers who expressed surprise at the unity among the various races speculate that the sea-change in the political landscape in general elections last year that saw the rise of multi-racial political parties and the retreat of race-based policies as a key reason for the outpouring for Palestine.
‘’People here see themselves and the world differently...no longer through the prism of race or religion but as oppressed and oppressor,’’ said opposition lawmaker Nasir Hashim. ‘’They see the sufferings of the Palestinians and can easily empathise with them. They can clearly see who is the oppressor and who is the oppressed, the victim,’’ Nasir said.
Under pressure from an angry public the Malaysian government is on a diplomatic offensive to pressure the U.S., European Union, China and India to raise their voices at official levels and at international forums on behalf of the Palestinian people.
‘’We cannot let this slaughter of innocent people go on,’’ Abdullah told parliament to an applause on Monday. ‘’We have to wake up the international community to the genocide and act fast to save the Palestinian people.’’
Abdullah who is president of the Malay-Muslim United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) is himself under pressure from the fundamentalist Muslim PAS party to take a hard line against the U.S. and the West for backing the Israeli aggression.
PAS and UMNO are rivals for the loyalty of majority Malay-Muslims who form 65 percent of Malaysia’s 25 million people.
Although small in size compared to neighbouring Indonesia with a population of 210 million, Malaysia is coming into its own in the Muslim world because of its economic successes and sees itself well-positioned to play a role in the Middle East conflict.
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service