We need an exit strategy in regards to the War in Gaza

By admin-s Last updated Dec 11, 2023

How many companies are we intending to boycott here? Are we really going to say no to Tesla’s investment and the RM 63 billion investment that we have secured from the US to show our solidarity with Palestine? Boycotts are a double-edged sword. It is not just something that we can do to corporations from the west, it is also something that the West can do against us.

Nehru Sathiamoorthy

Malaysia Now has come out with a piece about how 7- Eleven is on the side of Israel in in the Israeli-Palestinian war.

I am not surprised. This is an immensely divisive war. For reasons that only those who are in the Abrahamic faith can fathom, this war is felt viscerally by the Muslim world, the Jewish diaspora and to a lesser extent, Christendom.

Because the judeo-christians and the Muslims together constitute roughly half the world’s population, the other half of the world which is not of the Abrahamic lineage are also giving a disproportionate level of attention to the war in Gaza.

Although the civil war in Myanmar is both in scale and proximity, a bigger and more relevant war to us in Southeast Asia, although the war in Ukraine is probably the biggest war that is happening in the globe today, it is the war in Gaza that is gripping the world’s attention for the last two months.

This despite the fact that the region of conflict is just a sliver of an area. For comparison, the Gaza strip, where the fighting is going on, is smaller than Langkawi. The state of Israel is just around the size of Perak.

Israel has about 9 million people while the Palestinians in Gaza number around 2 million people. Together, they account for just 11 million people, or a third of the Malaysian population.

My point here is that on an objective scale, the war in Gaza is actually just a small conflict. Despite it being small in real terms, in the imagination of the people, especially the people of the Abrahamic faith, it is a colossal event.

It is so colossal, that we can feel the pulse of the war even here in Malaysia. Muslims in Malaysia are so upset, that not only are they constantly demonstrating in favour of the Palestine cause, they are taking retaliatory measures against Israel, by doing things like boycotting business that are associated with Israel.

This despite the fact that Gaza is almost 8,000 km away and most of us have never seen a Palestinian in our life, what more an Israeli.

Starbucks, McDonalds and Grab are some of the more notable companies in Malaysia that have faced a heavy backlash due to their perceived support of Israel.

Judging by the Malaysia Now report, 7-eleven is going to be joining them soon.

My question is, where is all of this leading to?

According to the Prime Minister’s office, Malaysia has secured investment worth around RM 63 billion from the US as of Nov 17. The US, and most of the West, are backing the Israelis in the war in Gaza.

Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, whose investment the Prime Minister has been actively courting for the past few months, is a self-described “Philo-Semitic.” In other words, his sympathies likely lie with Israel.

While it is not an easy job to talk about ringgit and sense when people are deeply upset at a visceral level, I think it is time for the non-Muslims in Malaysia, to at least introduce the economic dimension of the matter, for the consideration of the Muslims.

Almost all of the major western nations are on the side of Israel. It is not only 7-eleven, but corporations like Disney have displayed a strong pro-Israel stance. Influential business people, like Elon Musk, who owns not just Tesla but also Twitter, as mentioned above, are also likely pro-Israel.

As this war continues, just as how Muslims in Malaysia are extending their boycott in support of Palestinians, more Western corporations like 7- Eleven are likely going to come out to show their support of Israel.

Are we going to respond tit for tat ?

Our pro-Palestinian stance has also gone up from citizen level support to government agency level support. It is one thing for Malaysians to demonstrate and boycott products in support of Israel, but it is another thing for our courts to sentence people to jail for flying the Israeli flag or for our police to arrest people for stating that they want to build bridges with Israel.

If government institutions like the police and courts start taking sides against Israel, this will be interpreted as the official position of Malaysia.

Boycotts are a double-edged sword. It is not just something that we can do to corporations from the west, it is also something that the West can do against us.

The US and China are the two biggest economies in the world. The more we cross swords with American or Western corporations over Israel and Palestine, the more we will have to rely on China. This is a big decision. Are we going to let a war that is happening 8000 km away make this decision for us?

The war in Ukraine has been going on for nearly 2 years and still we have not seen its end. The war in Gaza will most probably last for at least a few years. Israel and Palestine have thrown the gauntlet. They are riding the tiger now. Neither of them can afford to dismount until their opponent surrenders.

The cold hard truth is that Malaysia is not going to be able to sustain our support of Palestine in ever-expansive economic boycotts for years.

Even if we decide to boycott 7-Eleven today, at some point, we have to ask ourselves, what is all of this leading to? What is our exit strategy here?

I really think that it is about time that Parliament discusses Malaysia’s stance in regards to the Israeli – Palestinian war, so that we can all be on the same page on the subject. We need a resolution on the subject and we certainly need an exit strategy. Rather than let the courts and the cops decide on our foreign policy, maybe it’s time that parliament owns up to its responsibility, so that all of us know what is at stake here, what can be done and what is the limit.