عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Interviews

Malaysian Prime Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: Stopping War in Gaza is an Immediate Demand

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat (Photo by: Abdul Aziz Al-Zoman)
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat (Photo by: Abdul Aziz Al-Zoman)
TT
TT

Malaysian Prime Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: Stopping War in Gaza is an Immediate Demand

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat (Photo by: Abdul Aziz Al-Zoman)
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat (Photo by: Abdul Aziz Al-Zoman)

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim underlined the importance of the Arab and Islamic role led by Saudi Arabia to stop the ongoing war between the Israeli army and Palestinian factions.

Ibrahim called for mobilizing Islamic, Arab, regional and international efforts to facilitate the passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza. He pointed to his country’s firm position on the Palestinian issue and denounced Western duplicity by supporting the Israelis and disregarding the violations of civilians’ rights in the enclave.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of the ASEAN-GCC summit, which convened in Riyadh on Friday, the Malaysian premier said: “We took a very strong position together, with our brothers, friends, allies, and neighbors. We believe that we must all work together to stop this madness of the continued killing practiced by Israel in Palestine, specifically in the Gaza Strip, and which affects the lives of innocent people in hospitals and public places. This heinous act must end,” the minister stated.

“The international community must do everything in its power to guarantee peace. And I mean peace for all (...) but Gaza is now under siege, and people are struggling to live, there is no water, no electricity, no food and no medicine. The situation is truly tragic,” he added.

Arab Islamic efforts led by Saudi Arabia

Ibrahim pointed to coordinated security and cooperation conferences regarding the Arab Peace Initiative led by Saudi Arabia, where he said the foreign ministers presented clear views on humanitarian aid and the implementation of a ceasefire, placing the responsibility for stopping the war on the international community.

According to Ibrahim, Western countries, especially the United States, are ignoring the importance of achieving peace in the region, indicating that instead they are provoking countries to intervene, and this is something - in his opinion - dangerous and “may contribute to expanding that battle to other countries.”

The outcome of the summit

The Malaysian prime minister placed high hopes on the results of the ASEAN-GCC summit to enhance economic cooperation between the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“We explored this new economic rebirth, and worked together to promote long-term business investments,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Prospects of partnership with Saudi Arabia

Asked about the Saudi-Malaysian relations, and the areas for future cooperation, Ibrahim emphasized the historic and traditional ties between his country and Saudi Arabia, noting that many Malaysian companies were currently participating in some major projects in Riyadh and NEOM and in different fields.

“The Kingdom, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has now moved up development investments in an amazing way. So Malaysia, as you know, needs to maintain this bilateral cooperation,” he said.

He also expressed his country’s willingness to sign new partnerships with the Kingdom in different fields, including green technology.

Malaysia and the upcoming reform

When asked about his country’s internal situation, the Malaysian Prime Minister said: “Our country is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. For this reason, our national philosophy promotes a civil concept that takes into account all of this, which means that we will push work economically to the top.”

He added: “We will work to attract investments, and we will focus on education, research and new technology, including artificial intelligence, which I think the Saudis have done relatively well, but we will also focus on the issue of ethics and values of humanity.”

Most Viewed

 
 
Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
TT

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.