Critics say the Southeast Asian nation is being selective in its bid to make Muslim solidarity a central pillar of its foreign policy. While the premier has spoken out against Israel and Myanmar, he has been more circumspect when it comes to Malaysia’s largest trade partner

Malaysia’s efforts to make Muslim solidarity a central pillar of its foreign policy have led to questions on whether the nation is engaging in selective humanitarian criticism, following Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s admission that China was too “powerful” to censure over the Uygur issue.

During the United Nations General Assembly last week Mahathir trained his sights on Israel, saying that its creation by seizing Palestinian land was “the origin of terrorism” and had negatively impacted Muslims globally.

He also lambasted Asean neighbour Myanmar for the country’s systematic targeting of its Rohingya Muslim minority, referring to the crisis as “a genocide”.

In his address, Mahathir said Muslims were being “accused of terrorism even if they did nothing”, remarks that were echoed by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, who told the assembly that some “Western leaders equated terrorism with Islam”.

The two countries, joined by Turkey, later announced their intention to establish a television channel to “explain” Islam and combat Islamophobia.

Mahathir’s remarks came just weeks after his government launched a new foreign-policy framework, a central focus of which was fostering cooperation in the Muslim world, with Malaysia pledging to play a prominent role in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

It is better ... not to antagonise China too much, because China is beneficial for us

However, the leader remained mum on the persecution of Muslim Uygurs, later telling a Malaysian news portal that “China is a very powerful nation” – remarks that later came under fire on social media.

“You don’t just try and do something which would any way fail, so it is better to find some other less violent ways not to antagonise China too much, because China is beneficial for us,” he was quoted as saying.

Malaysia, like many Muslim nations, has been circumspect about Beijing’s targeting of the ethnic Uygur minority. In June, Islamic Affairs Minister Mujahid Rawa visited the autonomous region of and praised an internment camp, describing it as a model vocational and training institution.

China’s position as Malaysia’s most important trade partner has given it some immunity from criticism, said Ahmad Farouk Musa of the Islamic Renaissance Front think tank, and pushback would mean “disaster”.

“In the end, it is economic concerns that triumph over human rights,” he said.

Malaysia’s calls for Muslim solidarity and championing of human rights have already been tarnished by its internal performance, Farouk said, pointing out that the Southeast Asian nation had recently deported a Turkish refugee family registered with the United Nations, and arrested dozens of Shia Muslims, a branch of Islam banned in Malaysia.

“Perhaps the government should be more observant of human rights values in handling this issue, rather than being a global laughing stock for our perceived double standards.”

There may also exist some “scepticism” within the government on whether the situation in Xinjiang is “at the same level as what is being done in Palestine or to the Rohingya, while not denying that what is being done there is seriously worrying,” said Ngeow Chow Bing of University Malaya’s Institute of China Studies.

“There is a growing belief within certain sections of the Muslim community that Xinjiang is at the same level as Palestine and Myanmar … but I doubt both the government and the wider Muslim society in Malaysia have reached that conclusion.”

The outer wall of a complex which includes what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. Photo: AFP

The outer wall of a complex which includes what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. Photo: AFP

Beijing has been accused of detaining thousands of Uygurs and other Muslim minorities, holding them in camps in Xinjiang to politically indoctrinate them. Uygurs who have left China have said they were physically and mentally tortured, forced to eat pork and study communist propaganda, and were separated from their families.

In the face of growing international pressure, Chinese authorities have maintained that the camps are merely providing vocational training to stop the spread of extremism, following a string of attacks in recent years that it blames on the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

The relative newness of the Xinjiang issue also plays a role in Malaysia’s reluctance to take it on, said Xinjiang watcher Roy Anthony Rogers, who teaches at University Malaya’s Department of International and Strategic Studies.

“Mahathir has been consistent, he has been supportive of the Palestinian cause and critical towards the ways Israel is handling with the issue since the 1980s. In the case of the Rohingya, it directly involves neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand, including Malaysia. Domestically we are facing an influx of Rohingya refugees,” he said.

“For Xinjiang, besides relations with China, the issue is relatively recent, we need to understand the situation more holistically. Every country has its own core concerns and will raise issues which are its priorities first.”

Although Malaysia has not strongly condemned Beijing for its treatment of its Muslim minorities, in October last year it tested bilateral ties by freeing 11 Uygurs from detention rather than extraditing them to China.

Earlier this year, the Malaysian defence minister insisted that Malaysia used “diplomatic channels” to discuss the Uygur issue with China.