2 Nov, 2006 in Asia, Israel by Fili An Tags: Asia; Israel;

The Israel-Malaysia Relations : A Personal Case-Study

Quoting from the Malaysian LiewCF blog with a post titled “No Malaysia Delivery to Israel?” :

Yesterday, I sent out all the prizes of “LiewCF.com Survey 2006” to the winners by POSLAJU (Malaysia National Courier), except the grand prize.

The grand prize winner is from Israel. Yes, the Israel we read a lot about it in the newspaper. When I asked POSLAJU, Israel is not in the list of countries (92 of them). I asked another nearby local courier company but received the same reply. […]

Update: I went to DHL office. Sending parcel to Israel requires an official permission certificate (very troublesome to apply for one). Sending paper documents to Israel is less troublesome. I have contacted the winner and we will settle it by ourselves.

Yeah, this was the first time I ever won anything and it was only because I filled out a short survey in a technical blog that I enjoy reading. You can imagine my surprise when I saw my name up there as the grand prize winner, but I was immediately worried about what it would mean to send something from Malaysia to Israel. I knew that Israelis are not allowed in Malaysia and that Malaysians are not allowed in Israel and that Israel and Malaysia do not have any official diplomatic relations. It was only yesterday that I got the word from Liew Cheon Fong, the LiewCF writer, that it wouldn’t be possible to send it over.

 

I find this reality to be a bit sad. I’ve always been curious about Malaysia, and if were up to me – I’d be delighted at the chance to go and visit there. Writing a blog about Asia, it’s troubling that my perception of Asia is limited to the Asia that doesn’t include the Muslim countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei etc.). While I was traveling in Asia the thing that was also a shame was not being able to take the Malaysian Airlines flights which –as every Asia tourist knows – are the cheapest deals around.

 

Anyways, LiewCF has been kind enough to offer me something else and I’m extremely grateful for his daily blogging tips and the unexpected prize. Hopefully, some day, I will be able to visit Malaysia, and not have to worry about things like how to mail something between our countries.

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  • Barnabas
    Reverend from my church aat Malaysia had visited Jerusalem several times
  • Yaron - when it comes to just transit, I don't think you'll have any problems regardless of where you're from and what passport you hold. If you're asking about crossing passport control, I'm not sure but my guess would be that you won't have any problems.
  • I have dual US-Israeli citizenship with both an American and Israeli passport. My American passport says that I was born in Tel Aviv. Do you know if I am not able to change flights in Malaysia en route to Bangkok from Brisbane? Thanks for any help!
    Yaron
  • Moses Mustaffa
    You see I have been offered to do post graduate studies in Tel Aviv University all expenses paid. But I have to abide by Malaysian laws. Before we pass any judgement we have to see the overall picture on the current scenario. They don't give scholarship to people you accuse of being lazy.One way how we can visit Israel is to apply for USA Green Card and finally cease to use Malaysian passport. If one consider onself superior, be a man , fear not being a stateless person. Money is the passport, alot of it of course.Otherwise be contented as law abiding citizen.
  • An - I believe special permits can be obtained for specific cases, like for academic collaborations and business ventures. If you have a second passport, you can ofcourse use that as well.

    Have a great time in Jordan :)
  • AN
    most of the islam based countries have these policy. yes, i believe it has to do with the palestinian issue. This is seriously a complex & very sensitive history to understand + jerusalem is also the 1 of the most important holy place for the muslims.

    p/s: we are planning to visit Jordan with a chance to go to Jerusalem via West Bank. But fellow Malaysian told us, we can't, simple fact that our passport states - no entry to israel.

    a malaysian tourist with low-level of clearance,
    AN
  • Mike
    NO!..no diplomatic relation with Israel..unless their change their policy towards Palestinian..I'm not anti-sematic but I extremely HATE! zionist-Israel policy against Palestine people..please you outside there..read and make a little research about what happen in Middle-east crisis then we talk about Malaysia-Israel "diplomatic relation"..dont you remember July 2006 Lebanon War?..my email open to you (No Spamming!)..
  • Anita
    I'm Malaysian and it's extremely sad that we aren't allowed to visit Israel. It's one country that has always fascinated me and I love to visit someday.
  • yauly
    It is inaccurate to say that Israelis are not allowed in Malaysia and vice versa. Though it is true that the diplomatic relations are unofficial, when I worked in the airport I met a few Malaysian delegations as well as Malaysian businessmen that visited Israel. Of course it was kept as a secret and nobody would ever admit they were here, which is just as sad… but maybe there is hope.
  • My auntie's been to Malaysia on an Academic conference so there are always exceptions...
  • Cool.
  • Hi, I feel upset when I read up Liew's post about this incident. I guess the real globalization only happens on Internet.

    You maintain a nice blog here, and I like your header picture up there. Is that somewhere in Israel?
  • Oh, thanks :$

    The photo is a view of my Asian home : Taipei-Taiwan.
  • What an incredible shame. Perhaps Malaysia is afraid that interaction will show its people that Israelis are not really any different from anyone else.

    If they ship the I-Pod and certificate to me, I will send it on to you for no charge. If you are interested, e-mail me and we can work this out.
  • Thanks for the offer, we worked it out some other way.

    I'm not even sure how this Israeli-Malaysian political situation happened. Might look it up later on...
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