The war in the Middle East is also an issue in Southeast Asia. While Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar refuses to condemn Hamas’ attack on Israel, Indonesia is trying to adopt a more moderate tone.
“We stand with Palestine” – “Freedom for Palestine,” is what was written on signs held by participants in an evening vigil in front of the Palestinian embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. They wave the country’s flags. Rafie, a student, wears a Palestinian scarf on his head and one around his neck. He hopes for an immediate end to the war because the atrocities in Gaza are shocking and inhumane, he tells the AFP news agency. “I hope the Indonesian government can support the Palestinians by sending aid, medicine, money, so they can get food and clean water.”
“We condemn indiscriminate attacks on civilians”
That’s exactly what Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, has promised: that the first aid deliveries will be sent from Indonesia to the Middle East this week. With everything the Palestinians needed most at the moment.
And Jokowi continued: “Indonesia is very angry about the deteriorating situation in Gaza, especially the humanitarian situation. We are following the developments in Gaza very closely.” Indonesia’s position is very clear and firm: “We strongly condemn the indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian facilities in Gaza.”
Indonesian soldiers load aid supplies for the Gaza Strip in Jakarta.
Lots of support for the Palestinians
A hospital in Gaza that is financed by Indonesian donations was hit, media reports. Video from a volunteer there shows body bags on the sidewalk around the hospital – they can no longer be stored in the hospital itself.
Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, has long supported the Palestinians; Many Indonesian Muslims have always sympathized with the Palestinians in Gaza and donated to help build capacity to prepare for an independent Palestinian state.
So far there have been demonstrations every weekend, especially in front of the American embassy in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta. And they won’t stop there, says protester Mohamad Yudhi: “We will continue to defend the Palestinians because they are our Muslim brothers. Just as we feel pain when parts of our bodies are injured, we feel pain when our Muslim brothers are oppressed “This is a small form of our support, Indonesian Muslims for our brothers.”
No distancing from Hamas
In neighboring Malaysia, things look a little different: “I am proud to be known as an anti-Semite,” former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad is quoted as saying. In his long political career, the now 98-year-old has repeatedly said this: “1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews.”
His former political foster son and current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, is not far behind him – he refuses to condemn Hamas’ violence and instead defends it. As in a recent meeting with the Singapore Prime Minister: “As I said before, this is not about the Hamas attack on Israel, but about what we call ‘politics of expropriation.’ It cannot be the case that countries continue colonize more of the Palestinian territories. But of course the important thing now is peace.”
Israeli flags burn in the streets
In recent weeks, thousands have taken to the streets in Malaysia after Friday prayers and on weekends. While iconic buildings in other countries were illuminated in Israel’s blue and white colors, demonstrators here burned Israeli flags.
The demonstrators also defended Hamas’s fight, which is ultimately a commitment to Islam’s holy sites, said one woman: “We Muslims should be ashamed, because the Palestinians are standing up for Al-Aqsa on our behalf. We are not protecting Al-Aqsa “That’s what they have to do, and whatever Hamas did, invading Israel, was in retaliation for many, many months and indeed years of what happened in Al-Aqsa.”
The Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third most important shrine, has long been a flashpoint in the Middle East conflict. It stands on the Temple Mount, the highest sanctuary of the Jews.