Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the Malaysian government would send a protest note to the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur "to voice its disappointment" with the apparent decision of the United States to recognise Jerusalem, and not Tel Aviv, as Israel's capital.

Syed Hamid reportedly made the statement to reporters in the Parliament lobby on Oct 7. Earlier, an opposition Member of Parliament, Husam Musa (PAS-Kubang Krian), moved a motion to propose that the House discuss the issue, but it was rejected by the Speaker, Dr Mohamed Zahir Ismail, on the ground of "non-interference in the affairs of other countries".

However, both Umno and PAS may have jumped the gun on this.

Firstly, news reports that Jerusalem has been recognised by the US government as the capital of Israel are now being disputed by the White House itself as well as the US State Department.

The media interpretation came from reports that President George W Bush has signed on Sept 30, 2002, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act passed by the Congress for fiscal year 2003. Section 214 of the Act is said to have recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

According to Richard Boucher, the spokesperson for Bush and the State Department who briefed the media on Oct 1, although Bush has signed the Act, he has yet to endorse Section 214 as he still considers the section calling for US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "advisory, rather than mandatory".

Committed to Palestine

Bush was quoted by Boucher as saying that "Section 214, concerning Jerusalem, impermissibly interferes with the President's constitutional authority to conduct the nation's foreign affairs and to supervise the unitary executive branch", and that "US policy regarding Jerusalem has not changed".

Above all, the United States considers that "the status of Jerusalem is a matter to be negotiated by the Israelis and Palestinians".

According to the Sept 17 'National Security Strategy of the United States of America' report, the United States contrary to popular misperception actually "stands committed to an independent and democratic Palestine living beside Israel in peace and security".

"Like all other people, Palestinians deserve a government that serves their interests and listen to their voices ... Israel also has a large stake in the success of a democratic Palestine. Permanent occupation threatens Israel's identity and democracy. So the United States continues to challenge Israeli leaders to take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable, credible Palestinian state, " it said.

Thus, the issue of diplomatic protest on the part of the Umno-dominated government or parliamentary condemnation intended by PAS has not arisen. The Foreign Ministry, Umno and PAS must get their factual basis correct before proceeding to make such judgments.

'Non-interference'

However, it must be said that the "non-interference" ground cited by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker to reject the motion by PAS is rather inappropriate.

Indeed, Jerusalem or, in Arabic, Baitul Muqaddas (The Holy House) or Baitul Maqdis (The House of the Sanctuary) is certainly important on an emotional level for the Muslims.

It was there that Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) was said to have ascended to the heavens. According to Mokhtar Stork in his A-Z guide to the Quran (Singapore, Times Books International, 1999), "Muslims initially used to pray in the direction of Jerusalem, that was before revelation made it compulsory to face the Ka'bah at Mecca".

Jerusalem is equally significant, and emotionally too, for Jews and Christians. It is a symbol of the past glories and greatness of the Jewish people. The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, for example, is considered a part of the now lost Solomon's Temple. Solomon was a Jewish prophet known to Muslims and respected by them as Sulaiman.

For Christians, the area around Jerusalem is where Jesus Christ was crucified under a Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Known as Nabi Isa to the Muslims, Jesus was also respected by them as a great prophet in a series of divine revelations to mankind, to be "sealed" by Prophet Muhammad.

Christians and Muslims believe that their essential beliefs, values and identities transcend the boundaries or restrictions of the international system of nation-states whose principle of national sovereignty only came into being in the 1648 Peace of Westphalia in Germany after the Thirty Years War.

Hence, if a parliamentary debate in Malaysia on the status of Jerusalem constitutes an "interference into the affairs of other countries", is it right then for Foreign Minister Syed Hamid "to send a protest note" to the United States?

The Dewan Rakyat Speaker who rejected a similar motion by PAS in Parliament either holds a different opinion from the foreign minister, or has made a ruling that is wrong or biased against the opposition.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM) which produces the subscriber-based political report, Analysis Malaysia . Wong is a former member of parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily. He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.