The Malaysian leg of King Abdullah’s Asian tour will not be as much about economic deals as was the case with the Saudi leader’s visit to China and India. However, the coming together of two Islamic heavyweights with different political, social and economic orientations throws up several possibilities that could redefine the course of the Islamic world in an age of increasing globalization.
The economic relations between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia rest on trade, tourism, education and investment. In 2005, the bilateral trade amounted to about $1.8 billion. In 2003, Saudi Arabia was Malaysia’s second largest trading partner in the region after the UAE and the third largest trading partner in OIC. Malaysia’s major exports to Saudi Arabia include palm oil, furniture, television sets, jewelry and plywood, while imports are mainly petroleum and petroleum products.
The number of Saudi youth studying in Malaysia has been on the rise in the last few years, especially in the fields of information technology (IT), medicine and engineering. It is important to note that Malaysia is making particularly great strides in the IT sector — from $2.5 billion in 2005, Malaysia’s IT market is projected to touch $10.5 billion in 2007.
Malaysia has also expressed an interest to work together with the Kingdom in producing bio-diesel, which is in demand in the European markets. The supply of crude palm oil from Malaysia and Saudi capital inputs could be a fruitful partnership. The other areas that bear the potential for cooperation include tourism, infrastructure and construction.
However, the meeting between the Saudi king and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi assumes significance for other reasons. It comes at a time when Muslims are in a “state of disunity” which is being viewed as one of the worst in 14 centuries of Islamic history. The Muslim world is facing numerous challenges such as terrorism, poverty, unemployment and pressure for political reform, which are getting immense attention at the summits of the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), of which Malaysia is the current chairman. Such has been the association between the two in the recent past that responding to a Saudi call, Malaysia organized a summit meeting of Muslim leaders in 2005 to discuss ways of healing rifts in the Islamic world by searching “for common ground”.
Malaysia’s importance stems from the fact that the entire Muslim world views it as a successful model of a modern Islamic state. In the space of less than 50 years of independence, it has also earned a reputation for being a model multiracial nation, and a model developing nation. From the beginning, the country’s founding fathers — the majority Malay Muslims, the mainly Christian and Buddhist Chinese, and the Hindu Tamils — worked together for independence. Thereafter, Malaysia has successfully strived to be a secular and progressive Islamic state, which in the words of former Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamed is “not despite but because of Islam”.
The country boosts of an open and diverse economy that is fast transforming into a knowledge-based one. It has been a democracy since independence, and is continuously strengthening its institutions of governance and rule of law. It has invested heavily in education, poverty eradication, rural development, improving the living standards of the people, and allowing its women to hold top decision-making posts, which shows that “Islam guides its believers toward knowledge, progress, tolerance, good governance, the promotion of human dignity, and global justice”.
Urging the Islamic countries to show that they can be tolerant and economically competitive, Malaysia is stressing the need to erase the “ignorant and extremely damaging perception” that Muslim countries breed terrorism and are undemocratic. Saying that Muslims around the world must guard against extremism and foster better understanding with the West, Badawi has called on OIC members to ensure good governance and accountability, apart from professing that wealthy Muslim countries should help the less fortunate members.
Championing the view that Islam and modernity are not mutually exclusive, Malaysia is now calling for strengthening trade and economic links among Muslim countries in order to benefit from the globalization process and to move into the mainstream of the global economy. Malaysia has every right to make that call because its prescription is borne out by its own success in achieving prosperity by promoting a knowledge-based economy. It has repeatedly stressed that it was able to transform its economy from its agricultural orientation to a high-tech industrial one by adopting a development strategy that hinged on human development as the engine of economic growth, a lesson that Saudi Arabia can benefit from.
The Abdullah-Badawi talks will also take place in the backdrop of the recently-concluded OIC Summit and the outlining of the Makkah Declaration that laid out a strategy for moderation by combating terrorism and extremism, as well as defending the image of Islam. The declaration aims to encourage political and social reform in the bloc’s 56 countries by endorsing a 10-year plan for better education, faster economic development, more trade, and more rights for women. There also appears to be a momentum toward the need to stop blaming outside forces for problems in the Muslim world and focusing on common efforts to face development challenges.
As the leader of the Islamic world that houses the holiest shrines, Saudi Arabia is grappling with the process of internalizing the virtues of moderation and modernization under the leadership of King Abdullah. With issues such as combating extremism, political reforms, economic diversification and women’s empowerment increasingly becoming a part of the Kingdom’s public and official discourse, drawing from the reservoir of Malaysia’s experience could not only prove beneficial to Saudi Arabia, but could chart a peaceful, progressive and prosperous road map to the entire Islamic world as well.
— Abdulaziz Sager is the chairman of the Gulf Research Center, Dubai.
