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C O N F I D E N T I A L KUALA LUMPUR 001499 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/08/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL NACB IS LE MY
SUBJECT: MALAYSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S LATEST COMMENTS ON 
HEZBOLLAH AND LEBANON 
 
REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 1458 
 
     ¶B. KUALA LUMPUR 1466 
 
Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark 
for reasons 1.4 (b, d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar 
rejected the draft United Nations (U.N.) resolution on 
Lebanon during an August 8 press conference.  He also fielded 
questions on suggestions by former Prime Minister Mahathir 
that the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) supply arms 
to Hezbollah, with Hamid stating that "we should look at all 
things."  Misleading press reporting implied that Hamid had 
endorsed OIC military supplies for Hezbollah.  A senior 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) official explained the 
comments reported in the press were taken out of context and 
were not Malaysian policy statements.  The official 
reaffirmed that Malaysia's policy on Lebanon remained that 
outlined in the OIC Putrajaya Declaration on Lebanon (ref B). 
 Malaysia intends to airlift medical supplies to Lebanon by 
week's end and reportedly remains committed to providing 
troops for a future peacekeeping effort.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  In August 8 remarks to the press, Foreign Minister 
Syed Hamid Albar rejected the U.S./France/UK draft UNSC 
resolution on ending hostilities in Lebanon.  Hamid 
characterized the draft U.N. resolution as unfair, imbalanced 
and unjustly in favor of Israel.  During the same press 
conference, reporters asked Hamid to comment on former Prime 
Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's suggestion that Organization 
of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries should arm Hezbollah 
fighters.  Hamid's response was truncated in most English 
press reports, but he stated in whole: "Some groups have 
suggested that we supply arms.  O.K.  We should look at all 
these things.  That is the opinion of one person (Mahathir), 
but the (Malaysian) government needs to look at this issue, 
and we must not allow Israel to do what ever it wants." 
Reflecting strong sentiment among Malaysia's Muslims, Hamid 
explained, "Personally I understand that perhaps we may have 
the feeling 'Why is it that the U.S. needs to supply weapons 
to Israel?'  And I think it is fine for the international 
community to have these feelings, and these feelings are 
shared by the people of the OIC nations."  Drawing on a 
poorly worded state news agency (Bernama) report, a 
subsequent Agence France Press (AFP) article carried the 
misleading headline "Syed Hamid:  OIC Should Arm Hezbollah." 
 
¶3.  (U) Earlier in the day, the Malay language newspaper 
"Utusan Malaysia" had carried an article quoting Mahathir as 
stating: "If Israel gets weapons from the U.S., then the OIC, 
if it can, should supply weapons to Hezbollah."  Mahathir 
went on to say that "the Jewish regime" would not be able to 
do anything if not for the weapons, money, training and so 
forth, given by the U.S. "The OIC should take steps to assist 
Hezbollah just like the way the U.S. is assisting Israel and 
this has to be done to level the situation in Lebanon which 
is only favoring the Jewish regime," Mahathir opined. 
 
¶4.  (C)  On August 9, Poloff discussed Hamid's statement with 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Under Secretary for OIC Affairs, 
Ambassador Ibrahim Abdullah.  Ibrahim explained that Hamid 
was merely fielding questions from the press, not delivering 
a new policy statement.  He clarified that Hamid's comments 
were taken somewhat out of context with the point he was 
trying to make.  Moreover, he explained, "This issue has 
never been discussed at the ministry level, and Malaysia's 
position is that which is expressed in the Putrajaya 
Declaration (on Lebanon)." (ref. B) Ibrahim reiterated that 
Malaysia supports Lebanon's Seven Point Plan, and that the 
MFA's focus now was on alleviating the humanitarian crisis 
that has resulted from the hostilities.  Ibrahim advised us 
that Malaysia was planning to airlift medical supplies to 
Lebanon, "hopefully before the end of the week" and that "a 
small team of ministers" would accompany the shipment in a 
show of solidarity with the Lebanese people. 
 
¶5.  (C)  Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi told the British High 
Commissioner August 8 that Malaysia remained firmly committed 
to sending peacekeeping troops to Lebanon, but only together 
with forces from Indonesia and Brunei, according to a 
diplomatic source. 
 
¶6. (C)  Comment:  The original state news agency (Bernama) 
report did in fact take many of Hamid's comments out of 
 
context, and the sloppy translation from the Malaysian 
language to English only exacerbated the contextual gaps. 
Hamid's off-the-cuff comments do not reflect any Malaysian 
policy shift, but represent a continuation of harsh rhetoric 
against Israel, often with the U.S. named or implied as a 
co-conspirator in the Lebanon conflict (ref. B).  Such 
senior-level statements likely reflect Malaysia's OIC 
leadership role; widespread sentiment among the country's 
Muslim majority strongly condemning Israel and the perceived 
U.S. role as Israel's ally; and the Government's need to be 
seen acting in defense of Muslim interests before its core 
Malay constituency. 
LAFLEUR