Tunku Aziz comments on Malaysia-US Relations and Israel

April 18, 2010

The Cost of Malaysia-US Relations

by Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz*

And so it has finally happened. What a great honour for Malaysia. Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the prime minister of 1 Malaysia fame, was thrown a few crumbs, a few brief moments to savour, exchanging pleasantries with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit.

Naturally, it was not quite the same as being driven down Pennsylvania Avenue to be welcomed at the portal of the White House, but I am being churlish as usual where Najib is concerned. Najib did get to see Obama via the tradesman’s entrance.

What irks me about this non-event meeting is that we had to resort to employing a very expensive public relations firm, for which read grubby Washington lobbyists, for close to US$25 million (RM80 million), give or take a million dollar here and there. Small change I suppose when it is not your hard-earned money.

Mahathir’s courtship of vilest and violent regimes in Africa

We maintain, for a small country, far too many embassies, all the result of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s megalomaniac years when he developed a special interest in trafficking with some of the vilest and most violent regimes particularly in North and Sub-Saharan Africa that others would not have touched with a long barge pole. For maverick Mahathir, that was his regular breakfast fare.

Maintaining diplomatic missions abroad requires a huge budget, and ours in Washington DC must cost us an arm and a leg. So Malaysian taxpayers have every right to expect to get value for money, especially when we were assured by Prime Minister Najib that his choice of our ambassador to the US was based on the gentleman’s credentials, whatever those might be.

One of his qualifications, so we were told, was that he had developed extensive networking, Washington DC style, into a fine art, and could be reasonably expected to pave the way for getting Malaysia into the inside track. Our man in DC could not, on this occasion, even arrange a fleeting “hello and goodbye” meeting without resorting, in the time-honoured Malaysian culture of corruption, to that offensive practice euphemistically referred to as “cheque book diplomacy”.

The prime minister could not have picked a better candidate for the job, and I wonder if there would ever be an end to the perceived sleaziness, rightly or wrongly, that has come to be associated with Najib. For the all our sakes, the prime minister has to be a little more circumspect and open in his dealings.

On Iran, Nuclear Weapons and Global Security

What has this visit achieved for the money and time expended? A photo opportunity at most for Najib, but for Malaysia, toeing submissively the American-Israeli policy against Iran. We decried Junior Bush’s attack on Iraq because we were not convinced that the claimed weapons of mass destruction really existed. Why are we so quick off the mark this time to believe the Israeli-inspired conspiracy against Iran? Where is the incontrovertible evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons? What have we done to urge the Americans to dismantle Israeli nuclear warheads?

On this issue, there has to be a great deal of soul-searching to be done on our part if we are to remain true to our sense of justice and if we wish enhance our standing among the morally decent nations of the world. I am not suggesting that we should oppose every American policy that impacts on global peace and security. We have to resist the temptation, however, of living in each other’s pockets in our relations whether with mighty America or pinhead Singapore.

Not against Israel

I am not against Israel, per se. I admire the energy of the country and its people, many of whom are friends of mine. With one, I went on two holidays, shared kosher food and enjoyed many hilarious moments. They are as honest and decent as the rest of humanity, and they, like us, want the best for their country and the Jewish people.

That having been said, anyone familiar with the workings of the American system on the international policy level will realise that no matter how often you meet Obama, nothing will happen unless the very powerful pro-Jewish congressional committees want it to happen.

Less Costly to recognise Israel

Rather than swimming in circles in the murky Potomac inhabited by totally disreputable money-grabbing grey-suited lobbyists just to pay homage to the White House, it would be easier and a great deal less costly to recognise, yes, recognise Israel.

It is there; it is not a mirage in the desert. All this pretense that it does not exist has to make way for a pragmatic new policy. We have to exorcise the ghost of Mahathir’s rabid anti-Jewish ghost or we will get nowhere. We are not helping the Palestinians if we do not talk and walk with the Israelis. That does not mean we agree with their inhumanity to the Palestinians.

Work with very influential American Jewish interests

We will get all the support and backing of the very influential American Jewish interests, and will be able to engage Israel on a number of critical international and humanitarian issues, including the Palestinian conundrum. I think we should give this serious consideration. The Jews are anxious to cultivate us.

I recall in 2006 while serving with the UN in New York I was invited to deliver a talk at a conference in Jerusalem. Despite attempts to deny that I was a Malaysian official, they saw me as such, and not as a special UN adviser who I really was.

They were delighted that for the first time in history that they had a ranking “Malaysian official” addressing a public meeting in Israel. They were not particularly interested in what I had to say about good governance, and the vital importance of fighting corruption.

By all means get close to Washington but...

They wanted to know why Malaysia did not recognise Israel and, yet at the same time our government leaders saw nothing wrong in depositing huge sums of money in Israeli banks. I had to tell them I could not answer their questions as I was not a member of the government of Malaysia. Mahathir may care to comment when he chooses to remember this bizarre aspect of his glorious administration.

By all means get close to Washington, Najib, but not at any cost.

*Senator Tunku Abdul Aziz is one of the prime movers in setting up Transparency International Malaysia, in happier times was regarded by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as “one man (who) was able to harness his personal passion and deep commitment to the values of ethics and integrity, give it a larger purpose and meaning, and turn it into a force to transform society for the better.” Why then was he left out of the MACC Advisory Group? He is regarded as being too outspoken for comfort and, therefore, difficult to handle.

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