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I’m writing this letter in reference to the letter 'Why is M'sia Israel's 15th largest trade partner?' by five MPs published in Malaysiakini on July 21, 2014.

First of all I would like to convey my respect to the members of Parliament of Lembah Pantai, Kota Baru, Sg Siput, Kelana Jaya and Klang who authored the letter above.

 

I understand the deep concern the authors have about the suffering of the Palestine people. However I disagree with the proposals put forth in the letter as it will damage Malaysia’s economic interest.

 

Here are my explanations :

 

A) The Israeli-Palestine issue is a complex political issue

 

The Israeli-Palestine conflict is a complex political issue that that has raged for decades since the end of World War 2. The United Nations (UN), United States of America (USA), Great Britain, European Union, Russia and the Arab League have all tried to bring a resolution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict with little success.

 

Malaysia can be vocal in the international stage about the Israeli-Palestine issue but the hard reality is that we are not a superpower country in which our opinion is seriously considered by the rest of the world.

Malaysia threatening to boycott the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) or any other trade agreement with the USA to force the USA to act against Israel will not work either. The USA can simply leave Malaysia out and negotiate with other countries, much to the detriment of Malaysia’s own economic interest and trade competitiveness.

 

Perhaps Malaysian leaders can do well to find a consensus among our neighbouring countries first in regards to the Israeli-Palestine conflict. At present with the exception of Indonesia, all other Asean countries recognise the Israel state and four countries namely Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines host an Israeli embassy in their territory.

 

B) Not possible to boycott Israel

 

Israel was established just a decade earlier than Malaysia and faced many challenges including five separate wars with its neighbouring Arab countries in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982. Yet today Israel is among top 25 countries with ‘Very high human development’ in the human development index of the UN and is very close to achieving developed country status.

On the other hand Malaysia ranks 62 with ‘High human development’ in this same index.

Israelis have invested significantly in their education sector and are producing many intellectuals and pioneered many breakthrough researches in various fields including agriculture, electronics, telecommunication, IT, medicine etc. More breakthrough research and technology are probably just around the corner.

Shedding some perspective

 

Perhaps Malaysia can boycott doing business directly with an Israeli company. But the recent controversy of Astro awarding a contract to Amdocs, a company originating from Israel, may help shed some perspective.

While some quarters were protesting against Astro-Amdocs deal, Astro themselves have defended their deal by claiming that Amdocs is the best company they can find in the field of subscriber management system. Thus it should not be a surprise that Malaysia is Israel’s 15th biggest trade partner simply because Malaysia itself is an active trading nation globally.

On the other hand, many American companies like Intel, Microsoft and Google recognise the talented Israelis and employ them. Thus when we use the products of these companies (includes all computers, smartphones and its operating softwares) we are indirectly benefitting from Israeli people and their talents.

The above is just one example of American-Israeli cooperation which are actually found in many business corporations in various fields.

 

In conclusion, we Malaysians can protest against Israeli government aggression against Palestine people but cannot completely boycott Israeli companies and the Israeli people without it backfiring against us.  

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