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