separatism – the _

[1760] Of Malaysia has not recognized Kosovo

I was surprised to discover that Malaysia has not recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state, despite the early enthusiasm exhibited by the Abdullah administration,

Back in February 2008, a statement by the Foreign Ministry of Malaysia read “Malaysia hopes the declaration of independence fulfils the aspiration of the people of Kosovo to decide their own future and ensure the rights of all to live in peace, freedom and stability“. In the same statement, Malaysia stated that it welcomed the independence of Kosovo.^[1]

As mentioned previously, such recognition maybe problematic for Malaysia, especially when there are so many separatist movements around in the world. Just outside the door step of Malaysia lay Pattani, Mindanao and Palawan, among others. Move to recognize Kosovo could be viewed with suspicion by the neighbors of Malaysia. The latest Russian recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia could also offer a challenge to effort to keep Malaysian foreign policy consistent if Malaysia recognized Kosovo.

Well, it seems that problem of consistency is no more of an issue as Malaysia has decided to be agnostic to the Kosovo question and possibly return to its policy of non-interference. The Malaysian ambassador to Serbia Saw Ching Hong expects Malaysia to support Serbian effort to refer the Kosovar unilateral declaration of independence to the International Court of Justice.^[2]

But truly, why would the Foreign Minister issue such statement when it has no intention to recognize Kosovo outright?

Due to the statement, it caused a misunderstanding that led Kosovo to list Malaysia as one of the countries which recognize it.^[3] I myself had concluded that the Kosovar declaration of independence was recognized by Malaysia. Eight months later, I learned that the statement was misleading.

Malaysia’s current position surrounding Kosovo is murky. It has to be noted that the opinion of the ambassador is not the official position of Malaysia. Or at least, I have yet to read any. Prior to the Malaysian ambassador’s statement, Serbia claimed that Malaysia had frozen the recognition process. Kosovo claimed otherwise.^[4]

I think it is time for the Ministry to clarify the Malaysian position once and for all.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

^[1] — Malaysia said Wednesday it welcomed Kosovo’s independence from Serbia which was unilaterally announced Sunday. [Malaysia welcomes Kosovo’s independence. Kyodo. February 25 2008]

^[2] — BELGRADE — The Malaysian ambassador expects his country will back Serbia’s ICJ initiative at the UN General Assembly. [Ambassador: Malaysia to back ICJ initiative. B92. August 27 2008]

^[3] — Kosovo declared independence on February 17, and has been recognised by 45 countries.Pristina initially included Malaysia in the recognition list, but it turned out that this was a misunderstanding; the Asian country had only welcomed Kosovo’s independence. [Malaysia Still Mulling Kosovo Recognition. Balkan Insight. August 14 2008]

^[4] — Mansor, presenting the stance of his government, during the meeting with President Sejdiu said that there are no changes to the Malaysian stance towards Kosovo, disproving the claim of Serb Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremiq, who on Tuesday announced that “Malaysia has frozen the recognition process of Kosovo. [Malaysia refutes Serbia claims of Kosovo recognition freeze. New Kosova Report. August 15 2008]

[1557] Of the issue with the Malaysian recognition of Kosovo

Kosovo is an interesting case not just because of the false moral dilemma presented within the framework of statehood to libertarians. With Kosovo finally declared itself as an independent state, Malaysia faces a diplomatic dilemma on whether to recognize Kosovo.

The issue of recognition has split the European Union into two in part due to fear that a recognition may affect the integrity of various states in Europe. Two of these states are Spain and Belgium. To be certain, EU member states are not the only ones facing the question of Kosovo.

Southeast Asia has a recent history of violent separatist movements. The most successful took place in East Timor. Invaded and occupied by Indonesia for about a quarter of a century, East Timor became only truly free in 1999. Aceh was another area which Indonesia had trouble with. Armed conflicts were common there until both sides agreed to a peace deal where Aceh was granted with autonomy power. Irian Jaya is yet another province with notable separatist movement in Indonesia. At one time in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, the balkanization of Indonesia seemed like a real concern.

Slightly up north lay Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago with active separatist groups. In Pattani, a movement was awaken after being dormant for decades. Other less known and weaker movements exist in Myanmar.

Being situated at the heart of Southeast Asia, Malaysia is physically close to most hot spots. At one time or another, neighboring countries facing armed separatism had accused Malaysia of aiding the rebellions.

Kosovo was a province of Serbia and its situation is quite different from the breakup of Yugoslavian federation where the basic unit of the federation were states such as Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. In the case of Kosovo, it is part of a unitary state, of Serbia, where the most basic unit itself is Serbia.

Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, like Serbia, are unitary states. And like Serbia, the 3 Southeast Asian countries face real separatism issues. A Malaysian recognition of Kosovo sets a potentially problematic precedent to follow given the scenario in 3 Malaysian neighbors.

Both Indonesia and the Philippines are aware how recognition of Kosovo would affect them. This is why the two countries have decided to postpone decision-making on Kosovo at the moment.I believe the two will remain neutral on the matter. I also believe that the logical step for Thailand is to oppose the Kosovar declaration. Two other countries beside which expressed position are Vietnam and Singapore. The former has decided to not recognize Kosovo while the island state is studying the matter.^[1]

Unlike other Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia was fast in recognizing Kosovo.^[2] In fact, Malaysia is the only country in Southeast Asia that has done so, so far. The only way to make this not awkward is to have Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines to willingly recognize Kosovo. With recognition from these countries, Malaysia could escape the burden of being consistent. I would imagine the Badawi administration with its incoherent policies would love that.

Perhaps, Malaysian recognition is inevitable. As the chair of the OIC, Malaysia may be under pressure to recognize Kosovo by the Muslim world.

Be as it may, I would have preferred Malaysia to adopt a more calculated move. We should have waited for Indonesia and the Philippines to make a decision first. It is only courteous to both. The question of Kosovo, after all, is not so pressing to Malaysians. Besides, how many Malaysians can find Kosovo on the map, anyway?

Before I end, I have a question. Since we only have a care-taker government at the moment, does the government have the power to recognize a state?

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

^[1] — Read [International reaction to the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence at Wikipedia. Accessed February 20 2008]^[â†©]

^[2] — Malaysia said Wednesday it welcomed Kosovo’s independence from Serbia which was unilaterally announced Sunday.
[Malaysia welcomes Kosovo’s independence. Kyodo. February 2008] ^[â†©]

p/s — Apparently, as I found out over 6 months later, the recognition has yet to be granted.

Pristina – Malaysia is still assessing the case of Kosovo’s recognition and has not made up its mind one way or the other. [Malaysia Still Mulling Kosovo Recognition. BalkanInsight.com. August 14 2008