MALAYSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S LATEST COMMENTS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUALA LUMPUR 001499 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL NACB IS LE MY SUBJECT: MALAYSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S LATEST COMMENTS ON HEZBOLLAH AND LEBANON REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 1458 ¶B. KUALA LUMPUR 1466 Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for reasons 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar rejected the draft United Nations (U.N.) resolution on Lebanon during an August 8 press conference. He also fielded questions on suggestions by former Prime Minister Mahathir that the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) supply arms to Hezbollah, with Hamid stating that "we should look at all things." Misleading press reporting implied that Hamid had endorsed OIC military supplies for Hezbollah. A senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) official explained the comments reported in the press were taken out of context and were not Malaysian policy statements. The official reaffirmed that Malaysia's policy on Lebanon remained that outlined in the OIC Putrajaya Declaration on Lebanon (ref B). Malaysia intends to airlift medical supplies to Lebanon by week's end and reportedly remains committed to providing troops for a future peacekeeping effort. End Summary. ¶2. (U) In August 8 remarks to the press, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar rejected the U.S./France/UK draft UNSC resolution on ending hostilities in Lebanon. Hamid characterized the draft U.N. resolution as unfair, imbalanced and unjustly in favor of Israel. During the same press conference, reporters asked Hamid to comment on former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's suggestion that Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries should arm Hezbollah fighters. Hamid's response was truncated in most English press reports, but he stated in whole: "Some groups have suggested that we supply arms. O.K. We should look at all these things. That is the opinion of one person (Mahathir), but the (Malaysian) government needs to look at this issue, and we must not allow Israel to do what ever it wants." Reflecting strong sentiment among Malaysia's Muslims, Hamid explained, "Personally I understand that perhaps we may have the feeling 'Why is it that the U.S. needs to supply weapons to Israel?' And I think it is fine for the international community to have these feelings, and these feelings are shared by the people of the OIC nations." Drawing on a poorly worded state news agency (Bernama) report, a subsequent Agence France Press (AFP) article carried the misleading headline "Syed Hamid: OIC Should Arm Hezbollah." ¶3. (U) Earlier in the day, the Malay language newspaper "Utusan Malaysia" had carried an article quoting Mahathir as stating: "If Israel gets weapons from the U.S., then the OIC, if it can, should supply weapons to Hezbollah." Mahathir went on to say that "the Jewish regime" would not be able to do anything if not for the weapons, money, training and so forth, given by the U.S. "The OIC should take steps to assist Hezbollah just like the way the U.S. is assisting Israel and this has to be done to level the situation in Lebanon which is only favoring the Jewish regime," Mahathir opined. ¶4. (C) On August 9, Poloff discussed Hamid's statement with Ministry of Foreign Affairs Under Secretary for OIC Affairs, Ambassador Ibrahim Abdullah. Ibrahim explained that Hamid was merely fielding questions from the press, not delivering a new policy statement. He clarified that Hamid's comments were taken somewhat out of context with the point he was trying to make. Moreover, he explained, "This issue has never been discussed at the ministry level, and Malaysia's position is that which is expressed in the Putrajaya Declaration (on Lebanon)." (ref. B) Ibrahim reiterated that Malaysia supports Lebanon's Seven Point Plan, and that the MFA's focus now was on alleviating the humanitarian crisis that has resulted from the hostilities. Ibrahim advised us that Malaysia was planning to airlift medical supplies to Lebanon, "hopefully before the end of the week" and that "a small team of ministers" would accompany the shipment in a show of solidarity with the Lebanese people. ¶5. (C) Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi told the British High Commissioner August 8 that Malaysia remained firmly committed to sending peacekeeping troops to Lebanon, but only together with forces from Indonesia and Brunei, according to a diplomatic source. ¶6. (C) Comment: The original state news agency (Bernama) report did in fact take many of Hamid's comments out of context, and the sloppy translation from the Malaysian language to English only exacerbated the contextual gaps. Hamid's off-the-cuff comments do not reflect any Malaysian policy shift, but represent a continuation of harsh rhetoric against Israel, often with the U.S. named or implied as a co-conspirator in the Lebanon conflict (ref. B). Such senior-level statements likely reflect Malaysia's OIC leadership role; widespread sentiment among the country's Muslim majority strongly condemning Israel and the perceived U.S. role as Israel's ally; and the Government's need to be seen acting in defense of Muslim interests before its core Malay constituency. LAFLEUR