FOLLOW UP TO THE CAIRO SPEECH: CONSULTATIVE PROCESS FOR

UNCLAS KUALA LUMPUR 000608

FOR S/P-GREG BEHRMAN

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON OEXC OSCI PREL SCUL SENV SOCI TNGD TSPL
KPAO, MY
SUBJECT: FOLLOW UP TO THE CAIRO SPEECH: CONSULTATIVE PROCESS FOR
MUSLIM ENGAGEMENT

REF: STATE 71325

Introduction
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1. Malaysia is almost unique in the world today. It is not of the
Middle East but it seeks to be a leader in the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC). It is not the largest nation in Southeast
Asia by any stretch, but it is a recent past chair of the OIC, it is
a leader in Islamic Finance, and it hopes to become a center for
distribution in Asia of halal products. It has a reputation for a
"moderate voice" in the Islamic world, but it is one of those
countries that is at the forefront of offering markets and
engagement to the Iranians.


2. We have for the past several years been engaged in an effort to
elicit actions and commentary from the Malaysian government
commensurate with its reputation for a so-called moderate voice. In
many respects, Malaysia lives up to that reputation. It is a
productive and effective ally in the effort to control and then
eradicate violent extremism. Since September 11, it has engaged
closely with us, with our Western allies, with Indonesia, the
Philippines, and other ASEAN partners to very effectively corral
radical groups in Southeast Asia including Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu
Sayaf.


3. At the same time, Malaysia prizes its independence, won through
the struggle for independence and earned through sometimes
vituperative relations with the West under former Prime Minister
Mahathir's twenty-two years of hyper-nationalist rule. We seek now
to make the most of Malaysia's hard-earned reputation for
independence in foreign affairs and its continuing willingness to
tack against the wind. In particular, as the most recent
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit made clear, we hope that Malaysia
will be able to use its credibility with middle-income and
under-developed nations to help add to support for mainstream values
and standards in the international community.

A Nascent Opportunity
--------------


4. The happy coincidence of alignment of our political calendars
makes Malaysia an especially fertile ground for follow-up to the
President's Cairo speech. Kuala Lumpur held itself aloof from the
United States during the previous administrations on both sides as
the spiritually deep and operationally deficient former Prime
Minister (PM) Abdullah Badawi stepped back from his first entente
with President Bush, with whom he connected on a religious level.
After the advent of the Iraq war and in ensuing years the Malaysians
increasingly sought to distance themselves from the Bush
administration. As a result, for half of a decade or more the
Malaysians have had only limited engagement with us and citizens
have been fed a steady diet of propaganda that oversimplifies the
problems in the Middle East and demonizes both the United States and
Israel.


5. The situation today is radically different. Not only has the
U.S. taken on a starkly new persona, exemplified by the Cairo
speech, but in addition Malaysia has been through political
transformation as well. New PM Najib is a more pragmatic, more
operationally minded, and more open-minded leader who has issued
explicit orders to his cabinet to move Malaysia closer to the United
States. As a result, even the most hidebound of institutions,
including, sadly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is marching to a
different drummer today. No longer is it politically safe to simply
take a position in direct opposition to the "hyper-power." For
example, we anticipate that Malaysia's record of opposition to the
positions we take in the UN is likely to improve gradually from the
dismal state in recent years. In the 2007 UNGA, Malaysia opposed
the U.S. 73 times, voted with the U.S. 5 times, and had 4
abstentions. Malaysia was in the bottom 9 percent of countries in
this regard. In 2008, Malaysia had an improved overall record,
voting with the U.S. 13 times, against the U.S. 71 times with 3
abstentions, but on "important votes" Malaysia opposed the U.S. 12
times and voted with the U.S. once.


6. Accordingly, we believe Malaysia is ripe for investment. This
post has a record for creative public diplomacy programs, such as
"Field Trip USA," a ten-episode reality/travel television series
featuring Malaysian high school students living in the U.S. on a
six-month exchange program. Post produced the extremely popular
television series in partnership with a youth-oriented television
station, courtesy of Department television cooperative program
funding. What follows is a blueprint for our plans in the coming
year to implement the President's vision and to continue the steady
expansion of U.S. influence that we have seen already in the first
100 or so days of the Najib administration. We will do all we can
to stretch our dollars, and in many cases we are achieving
objectives with current budget resources. That said, we anticipate
asking for more given the disproportionate effects we can realize in

this public affairs market given the well established Muslim middle
class in Malaysia that is genuinely grappling with the problem of
bringing Islam into the 21st century, the rapidly developing
liberalization of Malaysia's already market-oriented economy, and
the opportunity that Malaysia presents to help lead the OIC and the
NAM toward more mutually beneficial engagement with the United
States.

A Roadmap:
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Human development
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7. Television cooperative programs in Malaysia have proven to be
extremely effective in conveying positive messages about American
culture and society to an often-skeptical public. In 2007, a
television series about Muslims in America funded by a Department
cooperative agreement aired during Ramadan and reached a whopping
one-third of the Malaysian Muslim market. In 2008, another
successful television cooperative, "Field Trip USA," debuted. The
series featured eight students on a Youth Exchange and Study (YES)
Program in the U.S. and received much critical and popular acclaim.



8. While television is critical to reaching large audiences, the
Mission also needs the enduring value of exchange programs for both
youth and professionals in helping to create allies for America in
Malaysia. Hundreds of Malaysian youth, under the auspices of the
YES and UGRAD (undergraduate university exchange) Programs, have
studied in the U.S.; after their return, these students
enthusiastically participate in Mission-supported alumni programs.
Sending more Malaysians on these programs will help us develop the
next generation of partners for the U.S. in Malaysia.


9. Many in Malaysia are concerned that poor English standards may
affect the country's international competitiveness. The Mission's
outreach program for secondary school-age Malay youth uses "English
enrichment" as an apolitical way to speak to students and their
teachers about U.S. society and values. Held at private Islamic
schools, some public schools and at Post's "Lincoln (or American)
Corners" established by the Embassy in partnership with seven public
libraries around Malaysia, these activities seek to counter
extremism and radicalization among young Muslim Malaysians.


10. On a May trip to the conservative Malay heartland in Terengganu
and Kelantan states, the Ambassador met with children at a local
school where Fulbright Program English Teaching Assistants (ETAs)
were teaching. The ETAs are young American university graduates who
co-teach English classes with Malaysian mentor teachers. The State
of Terengganu, which co-funds this program, hosted 23 ETAs this
year. A new English Access Micro-scholarship Program in Islamic
Party-governed Kelantan State also allows Post to create longer-term
relationships with Malay Muslim youth in an area where the Mission
has traditionally found it difficult to gain access. Enhanced
dialogue with potential government or NGO partners and more funds
for expanding programs such as English Access Micro-scholarships and
Fulbright ETAs are ways in which the Mission can reach many more
young Malaysians with positive messages about the U.S. in
conservative regions of Malaysia.


11. Ambassador Keith spoke recently at a historic gathering of over
200 dynamic Muslim women activists from around the world who
gathered in Kuala Lumpur for the Cordoba Initiative's Women's
Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) conference.
The goal of the conference was to build a network of Muslim women to
challenge distorted interpretations of Islam and increase the
social-economic self-determination of Muslim women worldwide. The
organizers had invited Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues
Melanne Verveer to speak at the WISE conference. While the
Ambassador's schedule precluded her attendance this time, we hope to
put the organizers in touch with Ambassador Verveer and would like
to invite her to Malaysia speak to audiences in support of
innovative grassroots initiatives supporting Muslim women.


12. In 2008, the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) and the Malaysian Minister of Health met to
discuss the secondment of a CDC specialist to Malaysia's
newly-established Disease Control Division. The Malaysian
Government sent a letter of invitation to the CDC to this effect,
and is awaiting a reply. This arrangement could lead the way to
deepened ties between Malaysian and U.S. public health professionals
in global issues such as pandemic preparation and prevention,
management of H1N1 outbreaks, and the search for cures for bird flu,
malaria and dengue fever.


13. Promoting rule of law, and in particular, a stronger and more
independent Malaysian judiciary, is a key Mission goal. Strong
executive influence over the judiciary limits its effectiveness as a
fair arbiter, and inhibits public confidence in the judicial system.

Representatives from the Malaysian Bar Council and civil society
have expressed serious concern about limitations on judicial
independence, citing a number of high-profile instances of arbitrary
verdicts, selective prosecution, and preferential treatment of some
litigants and lawyers.


14. American judicial representatives have had success discussing
rule of law issues in Malaysia. Judge David M. Ebel, a Senior Judge
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit,
recently visited Kuala Lumpur under the auspices of the U.S. Speaker
Program to discuss rule of law issues with Government of Malaysia
interlocutors, among others. Judge Ebel's conversations focused on
judicial ethics and judicial independence in the American context
and created opportunities to discuss the benefits of judicial
independence for business, citizens and the government. In 2008,
Judge James Baker, Associate Judge of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Armed Forces, also visited Malaysia to speak with
legal audiences. Both visits contributed to the Mission's efforts
to generate awareness of rule of law issues among government, media
and civil society audiences; Post hopes to continue beneficial
programs like these in the future.


15. Malaysia is a middle-income country, but income and wealth is
very unevenly distributed. Moreover, the race- based preference
policies followed by the government over the past 30 years
exacerbated rather than ameliorated these differences. These
policies also have been a major impediment to economic growth and
development as well as to the completion of our bilateral FTA
negotiations. Fortunately, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has begun
a step-by-step process to dismantle these failed policies. He has
expressed his intent to align Malaysian policy more closely with
international best practices and in this regard he recently proposed
to negotiate a double taxation treaty with the U.S. We should take
up this challenge as a step toward facilitating Malaysia's
integration into the international system.

Entrepreneurship and Interfaith Partnership
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16. The Embassy is strengthening its close working relationship
with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, who
promotes interfaith dialogues in Malaysia and elsewhere which
attract leading Islamic figures from throughout the world.


Science and Technology
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17. Technology transfer in areas like marine conservation, where
our ongoing support for use of turtle excluder devices for the
Malaysian fishing fleet, is showing real progress. Capacity
building programs like our ongoing training for Malaysia's nuclear
regulatory agencies are paving the way for peaceful uses of nuclear
energy.


18. For several years, Malaysia and the U.S. have been negotiating
a bilateral Science and Technology Agreement - a framework agreement
that will facilitate the growing scientific and technological
cooperation across the board between U.S. and Malaysian scientists
and researchers. The agreement, which may be completed in 2009,
does not name specific areas of scientific cooperation, but contacts
at the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation
have indicated strong interest in partnering with the United States
in the critical areas of biotechnology and alternative energy
technologies. The National Science Foundation has supported efforts
to define the potential scope of new cooperation with Malaysia and
additional work by a Science Envoy would be beneficial.


19. Post has already highlighted a number of "Centers of Excellence"
in academic and scientific research in Malaysia, including several
Islamic-identified educational institutions - any of which could
become platforms for expanded cooperation in science and technology.
Both the Ambassador and the Minister of Science and Technology were
impressed by the recent proposal for a Center for Entrepreneurship
and Innovation being designed by The Stevens Institute of Technology
and University of Malaysia, and it could easily be replicated with
other Malaysian research institutions. The Ambassador's meeting
this week with the Vice Chancellor of the Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM) revealed potential for collaboration and partnership
between UTM and American universities for academic engagement and
global outreach programs of mutual interest.


20. In his meeting with the Ambassador in May, the senior statesman
and spiritual leader of the Islamic party PAS, Nik Aziz, expressed
an interest in obtaining possible Embassy assistance for science
labs in Islamic religious secondary schools in the Muslim heartland
of Kelantan. This is the first time such a figure, who has been
extremely critical of U.S. policies in the past, has reached out to
us in this manner. The Stevens Institute of Technology might be a
provider for an initiative of this type.


KEITH