The International Movement for a Just World (Just) joins a whole host of Malaysian groups and individuals in appealing to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to formally disinvite US President Donald Trump to the forthcoming Asean summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 26–28 October.
Just understands the difficult situation Anwar is in. Trump, as the current US president, together with some other world leaders, has been invited by Asean, not Malaysia, to the summit. Malaysia is chairing the summit, which is why the prime minister of Malaysia is playing the role he has to play.
Nonetheless, Trump has been so deeply immersed in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people that any positive gesture towards him, however symbolic, would be viewed with utter repugnance by a huge segment of the Malaysian nation.
There are at least three reasons why such repugnance may be justified.
First, the US leadership is not just complicit in the genocide, which has already claimed, by conservative estimates, at least 66,000 Palestinian lives in Gaza. Through its military, financial and diplomatic involvement in the genocide, the US government under Trump has been one of two principal authors of the brutal, barbaric massacre since early October 2023 (the other is, of course, Israel). Put differently, without Trump’s involvement, there would have been no genocide. It is significant that of the 66,000 lives lost, 20,000 have been children. Should Malaysia play host to such a human being with such a cruel and callous record?
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Second, Trump has not once admonished in public the Israeli government or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for its systematic denial of the most basic rights of the Palestinian people. This includes, in the context of the current genocide, their right to food, shelter, healthcare, indeed, to life itself. A leader with so little compassion should not be welcomed anywhere in the world!
Third, leaving aside basic rights, Trump, unlike a couple of his predecessors, appears to be totally ignorant of the Palestinian struggle for justice. He has no notion of their deep link to their ancestral land, of their culture that predates the arrival of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the region, of how Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities interacted with one another in the past, and how a distinct Palestinian identity evolved over time. Why should Kuala Lumpur, why should Asean, embrace such an ignorant leader who doesn’t even have an iota of empathy for the Palestinian cause?
For all these and numerous other reasons, Just would urge Prime Minister Anwar to send Trump a polite and dignified letter of disinvitation to the Asean summit.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the president of the International Movement for a Just World (Just).
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
