AUGUST 15 — 1. Malaysia, unknown to many, was one of the first country to challenge “Apartheid” in South Africa. The late Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman was dead set against the white minority tyrannising the black majority of Africa; what more to put Nelson Mandela and his freedom loving colleagues on indefinite detention at Robbins Islands.
2. Unbeknown to Malaysians too, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, subsequently became the first Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), with its head office in Jeddah.
3. But even before Malaysia was fending for South Africa, or, Angola, where Malaysia sent its first contingent of peace keepers in the 1960s to keep the warring factions at peace, with the help of Cuba, Malaysia was in favour of supporting the Palestinians too.
4. Indeed, one of the first funds, to help Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) become a fledgling entity, came from Malaysia with the permission of Tunku Abdul Rahman again in 1967.
5. Whether Blacks, Arabs, or, Angolans, the foreign policy of Malaysia has always had a central thrust: it is based on principled realism. When the cause is just, Malaysia will be there. This is true in Malaysia’s presence in Bosnia in 1992-1994 as it was in Somalia soon after the Cold War in 1989.
6. Malaysia, however, is doubtful that United Arab Emirates’s recent recognition of Israel can lead to any discernible two state solutions that Malaysia supports.
7. One, current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not shown any interest in a two state solution. If this formula is not globally supported, United Arab Emirates (UAE) — no doubt a strategic country — would have to expend much energy to persuade more Muslim countries to accept its decision, when the focus should be on global Muslim economic revival amidst a global pandemic that is adding 1 million cases globally every four days.
8. Secondly, this agreement is the handiwork of Jared Kushner, albeit with the endorsement of President Donald Trump. Yet, the reputation of Jared in Washington DC is now “Secretary of Failures”. Be it pandemic or Sino-US relationship, everything he has touched, has led to failure. When asked by New York Times how much does he know the Middle East, Jared Kushner answered in an arrogant, if not inane manner: “I have read 23 books in it.”
9. Thirdly, Malaysia is against this decision by any one parties in the Middle East to recognise Israel, despite the fact that Egypt and Jordan have done so in the last 26 years. The objections are simple: Despite the good will of the two Arab and now the third Arab country, Israel continues with his annexation of West Bank and Gaza since 1967, which is against the Geneva Convention and the many UN resolutions against it.
10. Finally, precisely because neither President Trump nor his son in law Kushner have the depth and expertise to understand the brittle nature of the Middle East, they shouldn’t meddle in it at the last quarter of their tenure.
11. Indeed, what is the point of making an agreement with Israel, only to see Trump potentially failing at his re-election on November 3rd 2020. To be sure, diplomacy is meant to last, nor made to break. Trump and Kushner have crossed the thin red line.
12. The future of UAE is to work with Asian and European Union (EU) countries to give Palestinians their overdue two state solutions. Not to recognise Israel in a way that will make it go through an enforced amnesia of side-lining the plight of the Palestinians completely, to the degree that their well-deserved Independence are neglected over the course of time.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
