September 26, 2012
Ties with US not so easily frayed
By Santha Oorjitham | santhao@nst.com.my
SOON after a Innocence of Muslims trailer was expelled upon YouTube as well as United States Ambassador Christopher Stephens as well as 3 of his staff were killed after a Sep 11 conflict upon their goal in Benghazi, Libya, Malaysia's Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman (left) issued two statements.
In his Sep 14 statements, Anifah said Malaysia was "deeply concerned as well as saddened" about a deaths of a US consulate employees as well as "vehemently condemns any action of assassination, in this instance, a gangland slaying of a tactful deputy of a emperor nation, who is a protected chairman underneath general law".
In a other, he "strongly condemned" a "anti-Islamic video which is during a centre of violent anti-American protests in Egypt as well as Libya" which caused a "tragic deaths".
And this week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak urged Muslims to remain pacific as well as not resort to assault as a equates to of showing dissatisfaction. "Now, more than ever, you should work together for greater respect, toleration as well as understanding, so you might live in peace as well as harmony," he stressed.
Malaysia has finished a right thing in condemning both a video
as well as a violence, says Dato' Deva Mohd Ridzam, a country's former ambassador to a European Union, Be! lgium as well as Luxembourg as well as Cambodia. "It's a approach a great friend should behave."
Malaysia's reply to a inflammatory clip as well as a violent reactions it triggered is a thoughtfulness of both a improving shared ties with a US as well as a growing role it hopes to play by a Global Movement of a Moderates (GMM), which Najib introduced in 2010.
At a ceremony during Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland for a 4 American consulate employees killed in a attacks in Benghazi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Innocence of Muslims as an "awful Internet video which you had nothing to do with".
With a inherent supplies for freedom of speech as well as expression, "the US supervision can't micro-manage every activity undertaken by Americans as individuals or as a group. It is formidable for a US supervision to meddle as such central interference could be interpreted as a defilement of civil liberties", says Dr K.S. Nathan, executive of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Malaysian as well as International Studies.
But he doesn't expect this episode to destabilise a tactful relationship: "Both countries have been mature, a attribute has a steady substructure as well as a priorities have been quite in fixing when it comes to dealing with extremism, as well as additionally in mutually addressing a current challenges of development as well as globalisation."
The US-Malaysia attribute has softened given Najib took over upon April 3, 2009 as well as a attribute in between him as well as US President Barack Obama is strong, says Nathan. And, he adds, "The institutionalisation of a attribute is something no personality upon possibly side would wish to destabilise since it is in neithe! r party' s interest."
The ties serve "America's political, security as well as economic interests in ensuring a segment which is fast by a horizon of ASEAN, which a US strongly supports as well as in which Malaysia has an critical role."
Last November, Clinton wrote in Foreign Policy which over a subsequent decade, America skeleton to "lock in a almost increasing investment diplomatic, economic, strategic, as well as differently in a Asia-Pacific region."
For Malaysia, "Bilateral relations with a US have been tip priority", Nathan says. "We hold in an economic balance of energy in a segment as well as a US is an critical player which can minister to regional stability, along with alternative vital external powers."
America was a tip investor in Malaysia last year as well as ranks as a fourth largest traffic partner.
"High-level shared contacts in between a US as well as Malaysia have been during levels rare in new memory," says US Ambassador Datuk Paul Jones (left). Najib has hold two shared meetings with Obama as well as many recently met Clinton during a Apec summit in Vladivostok, while US Trade Representative Ron Kirk as well as Attorney-General Eric Holder visited Malaysia this year.
Senior Congress leaders visited Malaysia as well as Malaysian delegations attended both a Republican as well as Democratic conventions recently.
Adds Jones: "The US as well as Malaysia have been both looking towards receiving a traffic as well as investment attribute to a subsequent level by a Trans-Pacific Partnership, an ambitious next-generation Asia-Pacific traffic agreement now being negotiated among 11 countries."
About 7,000 Malaysians investigate during tertiary institutions in a US as well as their ranks have been swelling by an ! normal o f 10 per cent per year. Military preparation has additionally expanded. For example, a sum worth of training for Malaysian Armed Forces officers in a US last year was about US$ 2 million (RM6.2 million), while a US is additionally invited to send an officer to a Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College as well as Combat Survival courses any year.
As for a violent protests which a video sparked, Malaysia's condemnation was healthy as it does not await militancy or receiving a law into one's own hands. The killing of tactful staff is opposite a Vienna Convention upon Diplomatic Relations, 1961, Nathan points out.
Malaysia has 105 missions in 83 countries. "Our diplomats will have no security if they feel they can be vulnerable to a same kind of assault you saw in Libya," he says.
In his matter about a video, Anifah said which by promoting GMM,
"Malaysia would similar to to see a moderates opposite a disastrous perceptions associated to all religions as well as faiths. This transformation additionally advocates embracing of mediation as an critical worth to overcome all forms of extremism."
And GMM Foundation Chief Executive Officer Khalek Awang (right), in a press release, said it was timely for moderates, who make up a immeasurable majority, to explain their rightful place: "People of great conviction in all religions contingency drown out a voices of extremists as well as deny them from dictating a reply of this inflammatory incident."
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