KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of protesters gathered in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday in Malaysia’s biggest display of solidarity with Palestinians since the beginning of the deadly Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
Malaysians have been taking to the streets since the escalation began over two weeks ago. Wearing traditional Palestinian scarves and carrying Palestinian flags, they have been calling for “Solidarity with Palestine,” and chanting “Save Palestine,” “Stop genocide in Gaza,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The protest on Tuesday, dubbed the “Malaysia is with Palestine” rally, took place at Axiata Arena Stadium in the south of Kuala Lumpur, and was the biggest so far, with the 16,000-seat venue full as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim addressed the crowd.
“We are with the Palestinian people ... yesterday, today and tomorrow,” Anwar said.
“Malaysians were there from the days of Yasser Arafat, struggling for an independent Palestine until today, and we will continue without fear.”
The number of people killed in Gaza has exceeded 5,000 since Oct. 7, when Israel began its bombardment of the densely populated enclave following an attack by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas.
Women and children make up 60 percent of the dead, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, while more than 15,200 people have been injured.
“It is a level of insanity to allow people to be butchered, babies to be killed, hospitals to be bombed, and schools to be destroyed,” Anwar said.
“We are not asking for anything extra. We want the Arabs, the Palestinians, the people of Gaza to be treated as human beings ... Stop the killing. Give them food. Give them medicine. Give the babies the right to live. Is that asking too much?”
Some of those who attended the rally, such as Mohammed Hassan Tahir, 65, told Arab News they wished they could go to Gaza and help — but they knew that was impossible.
“We can’t go,” Tahir said. “But we can give our moral support. That’s why we are here.”
Israel has said it is carrying out airstrikes to protect itself, but those who took part in the Kuala Lumpur protest disagree.
“Israel says it is defending itself, but for me, I don’t think so,” said Nurul Aina Ishak, a student. “The way they are seizing land, taking (it) from the Palestinians, that is wrong.”
In recent days, Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings and hospitals have intensified despite repeated calls by international organizations for a ceasefire and humanitarian access. Israel has also cut off power, water, food, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza, stepping up its 16-year blockade of the enclave that is home to 2.3 million people.
“They (Israel) are bombing places that should be considered safe, schools and mosques. They are even targeting hospitals. I feel unhappy with what is happening,” another protester, Shuhaimi Shukor, a 43-year-old executive, told Arab News.
“I support the Palestinians because what is happening is unjust. They are being suppressed.”
For Shazir Samsudin, a 21-year-old business owner, being at the rally was a matter of solidarity — and a sense of brotherhood that has been fostered for decades.
“We, as human beings, want to support the Palestinians,” Samsudin said. “Palestinians are our siblings. When our siblings are in trouble, we want to take care of them.”
Malaysia, a multicultural Southeast Asian nation, has no diplomatic relations with Israel, while it boasts historic links with Palestine, and support for the Palestinian cause, statehood, and the right of Palestinians to their land, that transcends both political and religious divisions.
“An overwhelming Muslim and non-Muslim population is supportive of the Palestinian cause in the name of humanitarian grounds and Malaysia’s legacy of standing up for the cause of the underprivileged,” Collins Chong Yew Keat, foreign policy and security strategist from the University of Malaya, told Arab News.
But while Malaysia has always been among “the most persistent and vocal defenders of the Palestinian cause,” more is needed for its stance to have any real impact, he said.
“It will need Malaysia’s diplomatic craft to exert more than diplomatic pressure or galvanize regional or global people-centered pressure.”
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‘Malaysia is with Palestine’: Thousands rally in Kuala Lumpur to support Gaza
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‘Malaysia is with Palestine’: Thousands rally in Kuala Lumpur to support Gaza
- PM Anwar Ibrahim says it is ‘insanity’ to allow people of Gaza ‘to be butchered’
- Rallies in solidarity with enclave have been ongoing in Malaysia for past two weeks
ASEAN should adhere to rule of law in face of ‘unilateral actions,’ Philippines’ top diplomat says
- Several ASEAN members have expressed deep concern over the US strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro
- Philippines’ top envoy: ‘Across our region, we continue to see tensions at sea, protracted internal conflicts and unresolved border and humanitarian concerns’
CEBU, Philippines: Southeast Asian countries should steadfastly maintain restraint and adhere to international law as acts of aggression across Asia and “unilateral actions” elsewhere in the world threaten the rules-based global order, Manila’s top diplomat said Thursday.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro did not provide details of the geopolitical alarm she raised before her counterparts in the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations who were holding their first major closed-door meetings this year in the Philippines’ central seaside city of Cebu.
Several ASEAN members, however, have expressed deep concern over the secretive US strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on orders from US President Donald Trump. China’s intensifying aggressive stance on Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea have also troubled the region for years.
Calling out the US and China, among the largest trading and defense partners of ASEAN countries, have been a dilemma and diplomatic tightrope.
“Across our region, we continue to see tensions at sea, protracted internal conflicts and unresolved border and humanitarian concerns,” Lazaro said in her opening speech before ASEAN counterparts.
“At the same time, developments beyond Southeast Asia, including unilateral actions that carry cross-regional implications, continue to affect regional stability and erode multilateral institutions and the rules- based international order,” she said.
“These realities underscore the interim importance of ASEAN’s time-honored principles of restraint, dialogue and adherence to international law in seeking to preserve peace and stability to our peoples.”
The Philippines holds ASEAN’s rotating chair this year, taking what would have been Myanmar’s turn after the country was suspended from chairing the meeting after its army forcibly ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in 2021.
Founded in 1967 in the Cold War era, ASEAN has an unwieldy membership of diverse countries that range from vibrant democracies like the Philippines, a longtime treaty ally of Washington, to authoritarian states like Laos and Cambodia, which are close to Beijing.
The regional bloc adopted the theme “Navigating our future, Together” this year but that effort to project unity faced its latest setback last year when deadly fighting erupted between two members, Thailand and Cambodia, over a longtime border conflict.
Aside from discussing the deadly fighting that embroiled Thailand and Cambodia before both forged a US-backed ceasefire last year, the ASEAN foreign ministers will deliberate how to push a five-point peace plan for the war in Myanmar, issued by the regional bloc’s leaders in 2021. The plan demanded, among others, an immediate end to fighting and hostilities, but it has failed to end the violence or foster dialogue among contending parties.
ASEAN foreign ministers are also under pressure to conclude negotiations with China ahead of a self-imposed deadline this year on a so-called “code of conduct” to manage disputes over long-unresolved territorial rifts in the South China Sea. China has expansive claims in the waterway, a key global trade route, that overlap with those of four ASEAN members, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro did not provide details of the geopolitical alarm she raised before her counterparts in the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations who were holding their first major closed-door meetings this year in the Philippines’ central seaside city of Cebu.
Several ASEAN members, however, have expressed deep concern over the secretive US strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on orders from US President Donald Trump. China’s intensifying aggressive stance on Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea have also troubled the region for years.
Calling out the US and China, among the largest trading and defense partners of ASEAN countries, have been a dilemma and diplomatic tightrope.
“Across our region, we continue to see tensions at sea, protracted internal conflicts and unresolved border and humanitarian concerns,” Lazaro said in her opening speech before ASEAN counterparts.
“At the same time, developments beyond Southeast Asia, including unilateral actions that carry cross-regional implications, continue to affect regional stability and erode multilateral institutions and the rules- based international order,” she said.
“These realities underscore the interim importance of ASEAN’s time-honored principles of restraint, dialogue and adherence to international law in seeking to preserve peace and stability to our peoples.”
The Philippines holds ASEAN’s rotating chair this year, taking what would have been Myanmar’s turn after the country was suspended from chairing the meeting after its army forcibly ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in 2021.
Founded in 1967 in the Cold War era, ASEAN has an unwieldy membership of diverse countries that range from vibrant democracies like the Philippines, a longtime treaty ally of Washington, to authoritarian states like Laos and Cambodia, which are close to Beijing.
The regional bloc adopted the theme “Navigating our future, Together” this year but that effort to project unity faced its latest setback last year when deadly fighting erupted between two members, Thailand and Cambodia, over a longtime border conflict.
Aside from discussing the deadly fighting that embroiled Thailand and Cambodia before both forged a US-backed ceasefire last year, the ASEAN foreign ministers will deliberate how to push a five-point peace plan for the war in Myanmar, issued by the regional bloc’s leaders in 2021. The plan demanded, among others, an immediate end to fighting and hostilities, but it has failed to end the violence or foster dialogue among contending parties.
ASEAN foreign ministers are also under pressure to conclude negotiations with China ahead of a self-imposed deadline this year on a so-called “code of conduct” to manage disputes over long-unresolved territorial rifts in the South China Sea. China has expansive claims in the waterway, a key global trade route, that overlap with those of four ASEAN members, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
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