The Mahathir Influence and the Changing Phases of Malaysia-Syria Diplomatic Relations

The purpose of this study is to examine Malaysia’s diplomatic relations with Syria through three periods: pre-Mahathir era, the first phase of Mahathir era (1981-2003) and the ‘interMahathir’ years (2003-2018) referring to the period prior to the return of Mahathir as Prime Minister for the second time in 2018. Ultimately, this study attempts to identify the key factors determining the nature of Malaysia’s bilateral ties with Syria during the Mahathir era. The methodology adopted for this study is qualitative in nature, relying on primary and secondary sources, the former being personal interviews conducted with Tun Dr. Mahathir himself and also with scholars in the field. This paper argues that during the pre-Mahathir era (1958-1981), relations with Syria were very much based on political and diplomatic considerations. However, during the Mahathir era (1981-2003) the emphasis changed due to the significant economic development and Malaysia’s foreign policy took a much more global approach. With this change, economic factors as a foreign policy determinant became more prominent as compared to the pre-Mahathir period. The inter-Mahathir years (20032018) did not witness any significant development except for the humanitarian support extended by the Malaysian government during the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011.


Introduction
Diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Syria was first established in 1958 and it has been maintained for the last 60 years until today. The objective of this study is to identify the key factors determining Malaysia's bilateral ties with Syria. In particular, this paper investigates the dynamics of Malaysia-Syria relations and the factors which determined Malaysia's policy towards Syria during three specific eras: the pre-Mahathir years, the Mahathir era, and finally, during the inter-Mahathir period. Prior to Malaysia's independence, contacts had already been established between the Arabs and the inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula. It was the Muslim traders from the Middle East who contributed to the birth of Islam in Malaya (Ruhanas, 2009: 29). The growth of Islam also saw the Malays traveling to the Middle East for pilgrimage, as well as to pursue religious studies. Ever since independence, Malaysia has pursued a special interest towards the region, which was driven initially by religious variables, but soon as a result of political and economic reasons (Nair, 1997: 3). The purpose of this article is to analyze the Malaysia-Syria relations since independence especially during the Mahathir administration and the factors that influenced Malaysia's engagement with Syria.
Existing literature on Malaysia's foreign relations is usually studied by examining namely, defence and security, development and trade, international cooperation and diplomacy. The works referred to are Saravanamuttu (1983), Saravanamuttu (2010), Jeshurun (2008), Karim (1990), Ruhanas (2006), Baginda (2007), Mohd Azizuddin (2012), and Azhari Karim (2013). In addition, this study also refers to Kaminder's (2011) study which provides a comprehensive discussion on Malaysia's external policy during the Mahathir administration whereby he argues that Malaysia's foreign relations is not entirely determined by idiosyncrasies, but rather, domestic and external factors. Finally, works by scholars who have analysed Malaysia's relations with Islamic countries -Nair (1997), Ruhanas (2009), Redzuan (2006, Sidin (2000), Asmady (2013), Asmady (2012) and Muhammad (1999) and the role of Islam in fostering diplomatic ties with fellow Islamic countries, especially the Middle East, will also be considered for the investigation of Malaysia's relations with Syria during the three different phases. This article intends to fill the lacunae in the existing literature on Malaysia-Syria relations by previous scholars. It also highlights factors that have influenced Malaysia-Syria relations throughout the periods under study.

Brief Background of Syria
In order to better understand Malaysia's bilateral relations with Syria, it is necessary to provide a brief description of the political background of Syria. This will enable us to appreciate the achieved its independence in 1957, Syria had become a free nation one decade earlier, in 1946. However, Syria as an entity has been in existence for many centuries with Damascus being one of the oldest cities in the world with continuous inhabitants. It had undergone numerous political changes throughout its long history, from being part of earlier empires, including the Byzantine around the 4 th century, and later becoming part of the Islamic world. Damascus became the centre of the Umayyad Caliphate beginning with Muawiyya, and Syria became an important state within the broader Islamic expansion, including during the rule of the subsequent Abbasid Empire. After the fall of the Abbasid Empire in 1258, Syria came under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The subsequent fall of the latter in 1918 saw Syria being under British control for a brief period. However, as a result of the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1922, it then became part of the French mandate (Rogan, 2009:11). It was only in 1946, after the Second World War, that France agreed to transfer control of the military and security forces to the independent government of Syria.
Syria's foreign policy after its independence was driven by its pan-Arabism ideals which were soon translated into a political union with Egypt -with both countries having strong stance against Israel. Externally, Syria was committed to confront Israel as part of its regional role and position. Apart from sharing a common border with Israel, Damascus saw itself as being part of the wider Arab resistance against Zionism. However, it also realised that it needed other countries in the region in order to be part of a larger coalition against Israel. Hence, the idea of a political union was actually pushed by the Syrians (Drysdarle, 1991: 61) which led to both countries declaring the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) in February 1958.
The direct consequence of Malaysia's interest in Egypt was what brought Syria directly to Malaysia's interests. As the UAR was a union rather than a mere alliance treaty, it was inevitable that Malaysia had to establish direct relations with Syria even though it did not have any real interests to do so at that particular point in time. In other words, when the UAR was formed, Kuala Lumpur had to establish relations with Syria as that would be the path to take to make it in line with its foreign policy with Egypt. Thus, Malaysia's initial relations with Syria have to be examined within the context of Egypt and the formation of the UAR (Mohd. Ridzaun Devan Abdullah personal communication, October, 31, 2015). As Egypt was seen as the most significant Middle East country in the Arab-Israeli conflict, bilateral ties with Cairo affected much of Malaysia's policy towards the Middle East.

Malaysia-Syria Ties: The Pre-Mahathir Era (1958-1981)
It is noteworthy that even though Malaysia had established formal ties with Syria, it did not have any direct diplomatic representatives in Damascus initially. This was mainly due to the lack of financial and manpower resources. Being a country which only gained its independence in 1957, Malaysia had very limited resources to establish missions in every country it had official ties with. According to the memoirs of Ahmad Kamil Jaafar, a former Secretary General of Wisma Putra who served in the domestic service before being transferred to foreign service, in the early 1960s, "Compared to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of External Affairs was a small world with not more than a dozen diplomatic officers attached to a few divisions -political and information, consular and immigration, administration and financial, and protocol" (Kamal, 2013). The main diplomatic priorities would be the countries with which Malaya had strong traditional ties namely, the United Kingdom and the United States, among others.
In addition, the unity of the UAR was short lived when Egypt and Syria parted ways in 1961. The departure of Syria from its political union with Egypt had influenced the degree of importance that Kuala Lumpur placed on Syria thereafter. This was very much so especially, during the Indonesia -Malaysia Confrontation (of 1963to 1966, when Syria had sided with Jakarta, much to the disappointment of Kuala Lumpur (Ruhanas, 2009). According to a former senior Malaysian diplomat, "due to the influence of the Indonesian communists, the Parti Komunis Indonesia (PKI), on their Syrian counterparts, which were themselves strong within Syrian politics, Damascus was against Malaysia and supported the Indonesian case. This was in contrast with many other Middle Eastern countries that supported Malaysia instead" (Khatib, personal communication, April, 5, 2016).
Trade and economic ties between Malaysia and Syria during this era were basic and remained small. This was due mainly to the lack of any real interests by both parties to develop any meaningful economic relationship. This lack of interest also stemmed from the limited number of products or goods that could be traded, either for import or export purposes. (Please refer to Tables 1 and 1.1).  Malaysian exports to Syria however (Table 1.2 and 1.3), had been consistently higher than its imports from Syria. This was due to the fact that Malaysia had been one of the major producers of rubber and tin which were crucial commodities for the Syrian economy. Initially, Malaysia's exports to Syria in 1957 was USD1,334,547, however it dropped in the mid-1960s due to political differences between the two countries especially when Syria demonstrated its support for Indonesia during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation. However, by the 1970s, when Malaysia adopted a more neutral foreign policy, trade relations between Malaysia and Syria improved. Exports to Syria increased from USD584,743 in 1974, to USD2,572,626 in 1975. The export value from Malaysia to Syria continued to increase in the next five years, reaching USD13,600,000 in 1980. This demonstrated the ever increasing demand for commodities such as rubber and tin from Malaysia from the Syrian population.
Essentially, relations between Malaysia and Syria faced a number of challenges, namely, the lack of resources in terms of budget, as well as personnel. As stated earlier, it was the political variable that mainly shaped Kuala Lumpur's attitude towards Damascus. Malaysia viewed Syria primarily from the perspective of its ties with Egypt, in the context of the formation of the United Arab Republic in 1958. However, when Damascus left the union in 1961, Kuala Lumpur's ties with Syria did not see any significant development, except for maintaining existing limited economic relations, as well as cultural ties.
In spite of the limited relations, Malaysia has always been supportive of Syria within the context of the Middle East, namely, following the 1967 Israeli annexation of its territory in the Golan Heights. At any opportunity, the Malaysian government would express its support for the return of this territory to Syria. For instance, the Acting Malaysian Permanent Representative at the UN, Abdul Halim Ali, stated that, "The legal status of the Golan Heights, under international law, therefore remains as an occupied territory and should be returned to Syria to whom it belongs" (Abdul Halim Ali, 1982).
However, at the same time, both countries pursued divergent views and positions on a number of international crisis, namely, during the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when Syria had supported the former, while Malaysia had condemned it; as well as during the Iran-Iraq War which broke out in 1980, over which Kuala Lumpur remained neutral, while Damascus, had supported Iran, mainly as a result of its leadership's association with Tehran's Shia identity.

Malaysia-Syria Ties: The Mahathir Era (1981-2003)
It is noteworthy that one of the key determinants of Malaysia's foreign policy during the Mahathir administration, was economy and trade. Much of Mahathir's policy was driven by the objective of enhancing Malaysia's economic position -attracting foreign direct investments, as well as encouraging Malaysian corporations to venture abroad and seek opportunities and invest. Mahathir's foreign policy could well be described as an economic diplomacy as Mahathir had placed the economic factor as a primacy (Nossal and Stubbs, 1997).
In addition, the change of leadership in Syria from Hafez Assad to his son Bashar al-Assad further enabled relations between Kuala Lumpur and Damascus to improve. According to Mahathir, earlier relations with Hafez Assad was formal and the leaders were distant from each other. This was partly due to the fact that Hafez was pro-Socialist and considered Mahathir as being close to the West. Hence, relations between the two leaders never really developed. However, this changed when Bashar al-Assad took over as the President of Syria in 2000. Mahathir stated that his relationship with Bashar had been very cordial and friendly, and Bashar also had great respect for Mahathir whom he considered as a senior statesman (Mahathir, personal communication, April, 5, 2016).  This was indeed the most significant landmark in Malaysia's relations with Syria. The visit was to cover "diverse ground from business and regional concerns, to academic dialogues with ulamas and think-tanks" (New Straits Times, August 17, 2003). The Malaysian Foreign Minister then -Syed Hamid Albar, who accompanied the Prime Minister stated that, "Syria was interested in Malaysia's experience in building a progressive Islamic nation, and becoming a middle-income country…. Mahathir and Dr Bashar were also keen to discuss regional issues like Palestine and Iraq, which are central to peace in West Asia and the world" (ibid). Speaking at a press conference on his trip to Syria, Mahathir said that, "Malaysia is willing to 'open its books' to enable Syria to learn from its experiences in developing its economy and society" (New Straits Times, August 19, 2003).
On regional issues, Malaysia was firm in its stand that both Syria and Lebanon must be part of the Middle East peace process as this was necessary for permanent peace in the region. Mahathir expressed Malaysia's hope to see the inclusion of the Golan Heights and Sheba farm in the US-brokered road map for Middle East peace (New Straits Times, August 18, 2003). According to Mahathir, during his bilateral discussion with President Bashar, the subject of Golan Heights was discussed in which he reiterated Malaysia's strong support for this occupied territory to be given back to Syria. He also mentioned that Syrians could not accept the fact that Golan Heights was being occupied by Israel, but that they could not do anything as they (Israel) were supported by the West, (Mahathir, personal communication, April, 5, 2016).
On bilateral ties, Mahathir stated, "mutual efforts were being undertaken to enhance ties beyond trade to information and communication technology, culture, education, tourism, human resource development, youth, sports, oil and gas" (ibid). During the visit, Mahathir also visited the famous Ummayad Mosque, which housed a shrine dedicated to one of Muslims greatest leaders, Salahudeen Al-Ayubi. After the visit, during the dialogue with Syrian Islamic scholars, Mahathir remarked that his perception of Islam had broadened because it was clear that "it is the teaching of Islam that we must respect the religions of others" (New Straits Times, August 17 2003 It can be said that the Mahathir era saw a shift in diplomatic ties with Syria -from one that was purely for the sake of maintaining diplomacy, to one in which there was a concerted effort to strengthen ties with Syria for trade and economic purposes. During his official trip to Syria, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was driven to the Golan Heights, some 65 km away from Damascus. Consistent to Malaysia's official position, he stated, "Syria has the right to its claim and it must get the support from the international community. Those who hate invasion and respect human rights must support Syria", and he went further to state, "Syria's role in the Middle East is important and we would like to see peace return to the Golan Heights" (New Straits Times, February 28 2007). Like his predecessor, he was also critical towards the United States for practising double standards in dealing with the Palestinian conflict.

Economic ties
It is noteworthy that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi continued the economic diplomacy of Mahathir. This was especially evident during his official trip to Syria, where he spoke at a business seminar, in which he urged Kuala Lumpur and Damascus to explore opportunities, not only for bilateral trade, but in the wider Southeast Asian and West Asian markets which held vast potentials for ASEAN and the Arab world. He further stated that he "would like to urge both the Malaysian and Syrian business communities to increase their efforts to identify opportunities, especially in the context of taking advantage of our respective strengths" (New Straits Times, February 27, 2007). He also stressed and said, "I do believe that Malaysia and Syria have much to contribute to trade expansion, not only between our two countries but also among the Organisation of Islamic Conference member countries as a whole" (ibid). At the same seminar, he suggested that Malaysia could be used as a gateway to other Asian markets, and added that, "apart from being able to penetrate the ASEAN market, Syrian businesses and companies could enter China, Japan and Korea through Kuala Lumpur's strong trade links with the East Asian countries" (ibid).
As a follow-up to Mahathir's economic diplomacy and in efforts to enhance trade ties between the two countries, a Joint Trade Commission was also established.   In addition, the Malaysian government also offered to accept at least 3,000 Syrian refugees as part of Malaysia's effort to express its solidarity to the people of Syria. The conflict in Syria has caused more than 200,000 people being killed. In August 2014, the United Nations declared that there were 6.5 million internally displaced persons in Syria, with 2.9 million registered refugees outside the country (Sherko Kirmanj, 2014

Conclusion
This article has analysed relations between Malaysia and Syria which was established more than 60 years ago . The discussion has revealed the factors that have influenced the bilateral relations and impact of Mahathir's administration on its development. It is noteworthy to mention that initial ties were very much confined to diplomatic relations as Malaysia then was more interested in establishing relations with Egypt vis-à-vis UAR in which Syria was coincidently part of. The friendship was more focused on Egypt rather than Syria at that particular time.
One of the challenges faced in the Malaysia-Syria ties was the question of priorities. In the pre-Mahathir era, given the lack of resources and as Syria was not perceived as a country of immense strategic importance to Kuala Lumpur, bilateral ties between the two countries did not really evolve beyond diplomatic relations as bilateral trade was also very limited. Even within the Middle East context, Malaysia had her priorities elsewhere and this had somewhat affected Malaysia-Syria ties. As far as Malaysia was concerned, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt were her higher priorities than Syria. In addition, Malaysia also had limited resources then -both in terms of manpower and funds, to expand its foreign relations. Another, major challenge faced by Malaysia in its bilateral relations with Syria was the latter's political instability. The divergent stance of both countries in major international crisis had also affected their relations. Interestingly however, this did not sway Malaysia's support for Syria following Israel's annexation of the latter's territory in Golan Heights in 1967.
During the Mahathir period, with primacy of economic development, the country's foreign policy took a much more global approach. Malaysia began to open up to the rest of the world, driven mainly by economic diplomacy, trying to expand the country's economic reach to different parts of the globe beyond its traditional trading partners. It is worth to mention that the change in the leadership in Syria in 2000, and the positive perception by Mahathir towards this new political development had also enhanced Malaysia's bilateral ties with Syria. As revealed by Mahathir, personal ties played an important role in the bilateral relationship, as Hafez was quite impersonal, whereas his son and successor, Bashar, was very warm and had the personal touch, which greatly influenced the Malaysian Prime Minister's perception of the country (Mahathir, personal communication, April, 5, 2016).
In the inter-Mahathir era, both Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Abdul Razak had moved away from Mahathir's global foreign policy and instead concentrated on Malaysia's traditional external pillars of ASEAN, while engagement with the Islamic and developing worlds was very much multilateral in nature. Emphasis was also very much on ties with western powers, namely the United States.
In the case of bilateral ties with Syria, Abdullah showed much interests to pursue the initiatives laid down by his predecessor as illustrated by his visit to Damascus in 2007. Najib, on the other hand, appeared not to have any specific interests in enhancing further bilateral ties. In addition, the instability in Syria following the 2011 uprising, has prohibited Najib from pursuing any efforts or initiatives he may have towards Syria. It is clear from the above discussion that the enhancement of bilateral ties between Malaysia and Syria during the inter-Mahathir period was the direct result of Mahathir's earlier premiership, where he started to view the leadership in Syria much more positively. It is worth mentioning that during the Najib administration, the then government opposition, had, inter alia, expressed their urge for the government to "condemn Bashar Al-Assad's regime of terror in Syria" and to "set up a parliamentary caucus on (the) Syrian crisis" (Nurul Izzah, 2017). However, 17 months after winning the General Elections over Najib's Barisan Nasional government in May, 2018 -the "New Malaysia" government under Mahathir has yet to issue its official stance on the Bashar Al-Assad's regime. This, should it be realized, would undeniably shape the path and the form Malaysia-Syria relations would take in the coming years whatever the outcome of the Syrian crisis would be.