The Israel-Malaysia Relations : A Personal Case-Study | Fili’s World

2 Nov, 2006 in Asia, Israel by Fili
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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13 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

China Law Blog | November 4th, 2006 at 7:59 am #

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.
Yien Bin | November 6th, 2006 at 8:57 am #

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?
fiLi | November 6th, 2006 at 8:05 pm #

Oh, thanks :$

The photo is a view of my Asian home : Taipei-Taiwan.
fiLi | November 7th, 2006 at 10:14 am #

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…
China Law Blog | November 7th, 2006 at 12:18 pm #

Cool.
yauly | November 9th, 2006 at 12:04 am #

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.
fiLi | November 9th, 2006 at 12:39 am #

My auntie’s been to Malaysia on an Academic conference so there are always exceptions…
MalaysianSegamat | February 18th, 2007 at 10:11 pm #

i dont really understand why Israelis are not allowed in Malaysia also Malaysian are not allowed in Israel too. Malaysia is a Multi-Race country….
malay always make much overseas people dislike…
If Chinese or Indian doing business in malaysia, they MUST give a FREE COMPANY SHARE 30% to MALAY. because Malay are very stupid also too lazy.
Anita | April 25th, 2007 at 5:31 am #

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.
Mike | February 1st, 2008 at 11:58 pm #

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!)..
MARDUK | April 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm #

Dear Infidels, there shall be no peace with Israel. Even if they change whatever law that will give the Palestinians more autonomy. NOT EVEN if they handed over Gaza on a silver platter. I will only make peace with the sons of Isaac WHEN they hand over Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed to ME. Nor will I make peace with the sons of Ishmael until they give Mecca and Medina to ME. Thats right, I will not be at peace until the day I personally control all the holy grounds on this earth.
AN | August 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm #

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
fiLi | August 28th, 2008 at 3:27 pm #

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

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