SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE OIC URGES MORE MALAYSIAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 000775 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO-RHS, DRL-MLGA, L-HRR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ECON KIRF MY SUBJECT: SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE OIC URGES MORE MALAYSIAN ENGAGEMENT ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In meetings with GOM officials, local and international Islamic intellectuals, the Islamic Development Bank and media, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Sada Cumber described proposals for greater USG-OIC cooperation and dialogue. He urged that Malaysia, as one of the more progressive and modern Islamic states, play a leadership role in efforts to promote mutual understanding and tolerance between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds. Cumber laid out his hopes for agreement on an OIC-USG Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would broaden cooperation on development and good governance with a special emphasis on improving the status of women. Foreign Minister Rais Yatim was receptive to the Special Envoy's proposal that the USG, Malaysia and the OIC partner in holding a conference on media perceptions of Islam. Women's, Family and Community Development Minister Ng Yen Yen promised to follow up on Cumber's proposals for U.S.-GOM cooperation on the proposed MOU initiatives. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Sada Cumber visited Kuala Lumpur August 14-17. In all his meetings, Cumber explained his role and plans as Special Envoy. He outlined a USG proposal for an MOU with the OIC, a ten-year program focusing on education, science and technology, health, good governance and entrepreneurship, and described a U.S. effort to place virtual libraries with access to over 1 million publications in the OIC's ten poorest countries. Cumber stressed that the main beneficiaries of these programs would be women. ¶3. (SBU) In his meetings, Cumber stressed the need to promote tolerance and intra-faith dialogue among Muslims, in addition to fostering greater understanding between the West and Muslims throughout the world. He emphasized to all interlocutors that Malaysia should build on its reputation as a modern, moderate and tolerant nation and play a leadership role in these efforts. In meetings with GOM officials, Cumber outlined his efforts to facilitate travel and immigration issues for Muslims entering the U.S., noting that it was the Malaysian ambassador in Washington who first brought his attention to these problems. He said he was working closely with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure Muslims were treated with respect and dignity at U.S. ports of entry and already had resolved a number of immigration cases involving Malaysians resident in the U.S. ¶4. (SBU) In an August 14 meeting, Foreign Minister Rais expressed frustration at the slow pace of movementQ key issues faced by the OIC. Rais said he would like to see the U.S. play a more substantive role in addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict but added that the "view from here" was that the U.S. always sided with Israel. The Foreign Minister made only fleeting mention of his government's displeasure with the Department's recent statements on the Anwar Ibrahim case. Rais was more forceful in underlining OIC's concerns regarding plans for an "Anti-Islamization Congress," reportedly slated to be held by the "pro Koln" group in Cologne, Germany September 19-21. He said "certain quarters" in the U.S. were involved and asked if the USG could "turn off" any U.S. participation. Turning to potential U.S.-Malaysian cooperation in the OIC, Rais suggested Cumber consider opportunities for the two countries to focus OIC members, attention on a small set of discrete economic projects. ¶5. (SBU) In regard to religious defamation issues, Cumber argued that making new laws was an ineffective strategy in attempting to deal with bigotry. He noted his discussion with the foreign ministers of Egypt and Pakistan on the need to work through these issues to reach solutions that did not restrict freedom of speech. In addressing the real problem of anti-Muslim prejudice, Cumber proposed that the U.S., OIC, and Malaysia collaborate in ways to engage the media to explain the true meaning of Islam. Rais said the West had to better understand Islam, but also acknowledged that Muslims also had to accept other religions. He agreed to Cumber's proposal to explore possible U.S.-Malaysian-OIC collaboration on developing a conference on such issues. Rais agreed to discuss these ideas further with Cumber at a side meeting at the UNGA in New York next month. ¶6. (SBU) Cumber reported on some of the anticipated concrete results of his efforts to date, including a U.S.-OIC agreement to exchange position papers in advance at the UN. He described plans for the Secretary to meet OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in New York and to host an Iftar party at the UN for OIC ambassadors and Foreign Ministers in late September, as well as his efforts to arrange a meeting between the OIC Secretary General and the KUALA LUMP 00000775 002 OF 003 President. ¶7. (SBU) In a meeting with Abdul Kadir, Foreign Policy Advisor in the Prime Minister's office, Cumber stressed that his initiatives would be funded by private sector contributions. Kadir emphasized the obstacles in obtaining approval for any programs within the loose OIC decision-making apparatus and noted Malaysia's efforts, during its recent tenure as chairman, to turn the organization more towards economic and development issues. Kadir urged that existing mechanisms such as the World Islamic Economic Forum and the World Halal forum be utilized as much as possible. ¶8. (SBU) In an August 15 meeting with Women's, Family and Community Development Minister Ng Yen Yen, Cumber stressed his proposal's emphasis on addressing the status of women and emphasized the essential role of education in helping Islamic youth resist extremism. Minister Ng cautioned that initiatives specifically addressed to problems in the " Islamic world" would encounter resistance and that, given the huge differences in viewpoints among the OIC countries, the terms of reference of such proposals had to be crafted carefully. She added that no programs could be seen as infringing upon the realm of Shari'a law. Ng said that the areas outlined in the U.S. blueprint closely paralleled the objectives of her own ministry and she looked forward to continuing to exchange ideas with the Special Envoy. Separate from OIC-related initiatives, Ng expressed willingness to look into the possibilities for GOM bilateral cooperation with the Dubai Group. ¶9. (U) Cumber met with a variety of local and foreign media on Friday August 15. He spoke at a press roundtable and did a taped interview with the host of a local current affairs television show. At the end of the one-hour press roundtable, local media asked Cumber whether he had any comment on the Anwar Ibrahim case. Cumber stated he had no comment other than to support recent statements by the Secretary of State and the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Malay language daily "Utusan" ran a story on August 16 with the headline "U.S. watching Anwar case closely." Over the weekend, articles by AFP and AP appeared in the international press quoting Cumber with regard to Iran's role in the Middle East. The AFP article, which was picked up by the Middle East Times, quoted Cumber as saying that "The United States is committed to securing a diplomatic resolution with Iran on the nuclear issue." As noted above, in the discussion with Cumber, Foreign Minister Rais only briefly and vaguely mentioned the Anwar case, but when meeting with the press immediately afterward Rais addressed the issue at length and the Anwar issue was the sole focus of the Malay language media's coverage of the meeting. Rais reportedly told reporters that he was perplexed that Anwar had become the "darling" of the U.S. and added that "maybe we will have look into the reason the U.S. is wooing Anwar." ¶10. (SBU) In his meeting with Mr. Ahmed Hariri, Director of the Islamic Development Bank's Kuala Lumpur regional office, Cumber pointed out that Muslim-majority countries cover 22% of the world's land mass, provide 75% of the world's natural resources as raw materials, yet generate less than 10% of global GDP. He emphasized the important role of the Islamic Development Bank in helping Muslim-majority countries achieve the level of development they deserve. He made a specific plea to provide regular funding for the Islamic University of Technology in Bangladesh which was built with OIC funds but is in a desperate state since its annual funding is done on a voluntary basis. Cumber also lamented that, unlike the U.S. where Muslims are integrated, Europe's 20 million Muslims were clustered and marginalized. He provided an overview of USG-OIC Partnership Initiatives states which he said would be funded in large part by the private sector, assuring Hariri that he had the contacts with the commitments to make it happen and only needed the MOU from the OIC to implement it. However, the OIC lacked the administrative apparatus to enter into such an agreement. Hariri acknowledged the difficulties, explaining that member states generally send their retired politicians to the OIC, many of whom spend more time making their rounds at the Ka'bah in nearby Mecca than in their OIC offices in Jeddah. Hariri agreed to look over the plan more closely, pointing out that it seemed to have much in common with some of the programs of the Bank. ¶11. (SBU) Cumber met with local and international Islamic intellectuals at a lunch hosted by the Ambassador. He also took advantage of an unanticipated opportunity to address and briefly participate in an August 15 conference sponsored KUALA LUMP 00000775 003 OF 003 by the Cordoba initiative that had brought together a number of prominent local and international Islamic intellectuals. Cumber told his audiences that the 25 million Muslims who live in freer societies in the U.S. and Europe should exert positive influence for the hundreds of millions under more authoritarian regimes, to counter the huge sums of petrodollars funding the expanding influence of the more extreme, repressive forms of Islam around the world. Cumber stressed his message that differences between Muslim-majority countries and the United States were the result of a "clash of ignorance, not a clash of civilizations." In lively exchanges with the local and visiting foreign Muslim intellectuals, there were the customary criticisms of U.S. policies in the Middle East, but also praise for Cumber's efforts to promote increased understanding and interaction not only between the U.S. and Muslims but among Muslims themselves. ¶12. (SBU) (Comment) S/E Cumber's meetings provoked particularly lively discussions by Malaysian standards, with his interlocutors intrigued by the functions of his new position, his own ethnic and religious background, and his message regarding issues that are close to home here. One of the main concerns expressed, however, was whether the S/E to the OIC post will be maintained following Cumber,s departure from the job. Cumber expressed optimism that there would be bi-partisan support for the continuation of this position. ¶13. (U) This message has been cleared by Ambassador Cumber. KEITH