JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of protesters in Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia joined rallies on Friday to condemn Washington’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as authorities tightened security outside US embassies.
Leaders in both Asian countries have joined a global chorus of voices condemning US President Donald Trump’s move.
Several thousand protesters, some shouting anti-US slogans and burning an effigy of Trump, gathered in front of the American embassy in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
In Indonesia, hundreds of protesters mostly clad in white were arriving outside the US embassy in Jakarta, capital of the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country. Some wore checkered scarves and waved Palestinian flags, while others shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).
“We have prepared personnel and patrols to secure the US embassy. We are expecting between 500 and 1,000 demonstrators,” said Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono.
The US embassy in Jakarta advised its citizens to avoid areas where there were demonstrations and said its consulate in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya had suspended public services on Friday.
Indonesia has been a long-running supporter of the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and there have been public demonstrations in support of Palestine in recent years.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday urged the United States to reconsider its decision and instructed his foreign minister to summon the US ambassador for an explanation.
In Malaysia, leaders from the ruling party United Malay National Organization (UMNO) and the popular right wing Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), both of which represent the majority ethnic Malay-Muslims, led the rally and representatives of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas are expected to join.
Protests are also expected in South Asia. Pakistan’s major Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami has announced rallies in all major cities after Friday prayers.
President Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem in the coming years.
Protests have already broken out in the West Bank and the Gaza strip as the Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians to launch a fresh uprising against Israel.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. Its eastern sector was captured by Israel in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of an independent state they seek.
Thousands of Muslims in Asia protest against Trump’s Jerusalem plan
Thousands of Muslims in Asia protest against Trump’s Jerusalem plan
Fourth pair of Filipino twins set to fly to Riyadh next week for separation surgery
- Born in April 2024, Olivia and Gianna Manuel are joined from the chest to the abdomen
- Their mother learned about Saudi Conjoined Twins Program from social media updates
MANILA: As they prepare to travel to Riyadh next week for separation surgery, the parents of Olivia and Gianna Manuel have renewed hopes that their children will grow up like others, as they have become the fourth pair of Filipino twins to be taken care of by the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program.
The girls from the town of Talavera in the central Philippine province of Nueva Ecija were born in April 2024.
They are joined from the chest to the abdomen, a condition known as omphalopagus.
“They can’t eat properly. It’s really difficult for them. When one is lying down, the other often gets pinned down because the bigger one is very hyper. The smaller one is usually underneath,” the children’s mother, Ginalyn Manuel, told Arab News.
“When they’re lying down or sleeping, even if one still wants to sleep, she’s forced to wake up because the other keeps moving.”
She first learned about the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program when she followed social media updates on Akhizah and Ayeesha Yusoph, the second pair of Filipino twins to undergo separation surgery in Saudi Arabia.
At that time, she was still in the hospital with the girls, closely monitored by doctors for three months after they were born. She then reached out to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, which runs the conjoined twins program, and in July last year, a hospital in Riyadh got in touch with her.
After various steps of medical qualification, the Saudi Embassy in Manila announced the girls would soon travel to the Kingdom with their parents to undergo the separation procedure.
They are scheduled to fly to Riyadh on Jan. 26.
“Out of so many people, we were given the chance for our twins to be separated. If it were just us, we really couldn’t afford it. The help from the Saudi government is truly enormous,” Manuel said.
“I imagine them playing here, already apart, walking on their own. It feels so good just thinking about it. That’s what I always include in my prayers — that their separation surgery will be successful.”
Saudi Arabia is known as a pioneer in the field of separation surgery. KSrelief was established by King Salman in 2015 and is headed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, one of the world’s most renowned pediatric surgeons.
Since 1990, he and his team have separated more than 140 children from 27 countries who were born sharing internal organs with their twins.
The first pair of Filipino conjoined twins, Ann and Mae Manzo, were separated under the program in March 2004. They were joined at the abdomen, pelvis and perineum.
They were followed by the Yusoph twins, who were joined at the lower chest and abdomen and shared one liver. Their successful separation procedure was in September 2024.
The third pair of Filipino conjoined twins, Maurice Ann and Klea Misa, who are joined at the head, flew to Riyadh in May and are currently being prepared for their surgery.
