Malaysia has banned all Israeli-flagged vessels from docking in its ports due to what it described as Israel’s
violation of international law “through continuous massacres and atrocities against the Palestinians.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced this move on Dec. 20, specifically mentioning an immediate ban on Israeli shipping giant ZIM, which until then had been permitted to dock in the Southeast Asian country since 2005.
Ships on their way to Israel will also be prohibited from docking in Malaysia, the government announced.
Anwar has consistently spoken against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has
killed more than 17,000 Palestinians as of early December. Around 60 percent of Malaysia’s population
are Muslim and have been largely supportive of Palestinians even before the conflict escalated on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed Tel Aviv.
Malaysia's two-state
solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict has strained its relations with the United States, with U.S. officials sending
three diplomatic notes to the country over the issue. But Anwar, backed by his constituents who are
vocal against Israel’s attacks on Gaza, remains adamant despite Western pressure to change his position “of refusing to recognize Hamas as a terrorist group.”
Some believe that Anwar’s stance could also be
courting Malay Muslim voters to strengthen his newly formed coalition government. Since narrowly winning the November 2022 general elections, Anwar has had to deal with his
fragile political coalition that barely snapped up the victory in the provincial elections in August.
Malaysia’s position is
consistent with how Southeast Asian countries’ responses to the Israel-Palestine conflict appear to be shaped by domestic politics. Like Malaysia, other Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, have declared their solidarity with Palestine in its conflict with Israel.
Amid the individual positions taken by ASEAN’s member countries like Malaysia, the regional bloc has not taken a categorical position on the Gaza conflict. Directing its call to “all parties,” the ASEAN and Gulf leaders
issued a statement in October condemning the attacks on civilians in Gaza while calling for
a two-state solution to end the war.