Malaysia agrees that there should be a quick cease-fire in Palestine

SINGAPURA: Malaysia welcomes and supports any proposal that will help achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, including the three-stage proposal announced recently by the President of the United States (US), Joe Biden, said Defense Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Report Bernama, speaking at the seventh session of the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD), the minister said, Malaysia believes that the Palestinian people must be given the full right to determine their own dignity and destiny, the independence and sovereignty of their country, as well as the right to freedom of movement.

“This conflict has challenged our conscience as human beings and tested our courage to confront and condemn acts of genocide.

In line with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, Israel must immediately stop its military attacks and other actions in Rafah,” he said at a session themed Re-Imagining Solutions for Regional Stability, on Sunday.

Mohamed Khaled also suggested that the SLD, Asia’s main defense summit hosted by Singapore since 2002, invite representatives from Palestine to also participate and foster a constructive dialogue.

Touching on ASEAN, the minister said, the bloc has developed based on a policy of neutrality and will continue to remain neutral in the future.

“We should not be forced to take sides and will not take sides. However, Malaysia’s stance against any actions that increase conflict in the region remains unchanged. I stress that being neutral is the best way while expanding multi-layered cooperation even with the warring parties, ” he said.

He said challenges to regional stability are caused by growing technology such as the systematic use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have been misused to increase damage in wars, as well as global warming and sea level rise that reduce the resources of countries in the world.
“Not far from Malaysia, tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait have the potential to trigger an armed conflict,” he said.

To overcome these obstacles for the sake of long-term stability, Mohamed Khaled proposed a three-C view — Constructive, Comprehensive, and Complementary — which is essential for sustainable cooperation between ASEAN, its dialogue partners, and other like-minded countries.

Elaborating further, he said regular constructive dialogue between countries is critical to bridging differences in interests, finding common ground, and finding mutually beneficial solutions.

“In 2025 when Malaysia chairs ASEAN, we will continue the tradition of being a regional leader and maintain our centrality.

“We aim to provide a conducive atmosphere for a focused solution in 2025. Especially on urgent issues and ongoing negotiations regarding our region,” he said.

He said comprehensive cooperation initiatives in various domains, especially in marine pollution, natural disasters, maritime piracy, and cyber threats should be among the main agenda of the country.

Mohamed Khaled said that existing ASEAN-led mechanisms need to be further strengthened, and looking beyond the current domain is important to complement and add value to the existing architecture.

He asserted that it was time to abandon the orthodox view of security by expanding the horizon to broader themes.

“This includes defense education and leadership, military and public health and welfare, cyber and digital space, environmental technology and food security, as well as disaster risk management, all of which are embedded in converging interests,” he said.

In addition, Mohamed Khaled said that in order to achieve long-term stability, the cooperation established must be complementary through various layers and platforms and the security alliance established in the Asia Pacific region must complement each other’s capacities and capabilities.

He said, cooperation between ASEAN and other regional cooperation pacts or blocs, rather than with individual countries, should be explored.

Mohamed Khaled has been in Singapore since Thursday and led the Malaysian delegation to the Defense Ministers Meeting of the Five Power Defense Treaty (FDMM) and SLD.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense in a statement informed that the Minister of Defense’s participation in the SLD proves Malaysia’s commitment and leadership in defense and security issues in the Southeast Asian region.

SLD2024 which closed on Sunday was the second international forum that Mohamed Khaled attended face-to-face since being appointed Minister of Defense in December 2023.

He also paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong and his counterpart from the republic Dr Ng Eng Hen, in addition to holding bilateral and multilateral meetings with counterparts from strategic countries and of interest to Malaysia including Canada, Australia, Maldives and the US.