Malaysia- India relations
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2019
2020 Jan: India plans more trade curbs
Sidhartha, January 15, 2020: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: After refined palm oil, the government is looking to further step up the heat on Malaysia with a plan to restrict the import of microprocessors amid indications that the trade dispute is unlikely to be sorted out soon as the Southeast Asian nation continues to rile India over Kashmir and the Citizenship (Amendment Act).
Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad’s determination to speak out on what India believes are its internal issues has seen the Modi government working on imposing technical standards on microprocessors and also putting in place a quality control order for telecom equipment, sources told TOI.
Customs authorities have been asked to ensure compliance of the quality control order as part of efforts to restrict the entry of Malaysian equipment into India, in what is probably the first trade retaliation by India against a country’s political stance.
On Tuesday, Mohamad said he was worried over the trade restrictions but added that he would continue to speak out against “wrong things”.
“We are concerned, of course, because we sell a lot of palm oil to India, but, on the other hand, we need to be frank and see that if something goes wrong, we will have to say it,” the veteran leader told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
“If we allow things to go wrong and think only about the money involved, then I think a lot of wrong things will be done, by us and by other people,” he added.
A news agency said the 94-year-old leader vowed to find a solution as prices crashed in the futures market after India, the world’s largest buyer of edible oil, decided to move refined palm oil from the list of free imports to the restricted category.
Apart from Mohamad’s comments on Kashmir and CAA, Indian authorities are upset with Malaysia’s reluctance to extradite controversial preacher Zakir Naik, prompting the government to hit back on the trade front. On January 9, TOI had reported that India intended to step up action against Malaysia with restrictions on palm oil and electronics imports.
Separately, the mines ministry is keeping tabs on imports and may initiate action in the coming weeks, officials said. Malaysian palm oil already faces 50% import tariff, due to a 5% safeguard duty, compared to 45% on Indonesian oil. The duty is up for review next month, sources said.
India’s trade with Malaysia was estimated at over $17 billion, with exports pegged at $6.4 billion, while imports were estimated at $10.8 billion.
Why Malaysia did not retaliate against India
January 21, 2020: The Times of India
From: January 21, 2020: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad tried to play the 'pity' card on Monday by saying that his country was too small to retaliate against India , after curbs on import of palm oil were introduced by New Delhi, ostensibly targeting Kuala Lumpur for criticising India on domestic issues such as CAA and Kashmir.
India is also reportedly unhappy with Malaysia's refusal to revoke permanent resident status for controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who has lived in Malaysia for three years and faces charges of money laundering and hate speech in India.
"We are too small to take retaliatory action. We have to find ways and means to overcome that," the Malaysian PM told reporters.
Muscle flexing
India, the world's largest edible oil buyer, has so far only targeted palm oil imports , officially to safeguard its domestic industry though the hardest hit will be Malaysia, since India is its biggest buyer — accounting for nearly a quarter of Malaysia's palm oil exports. However, palm oil constituted just 13.38% of total imports from Malaysia in 2018-19 — and it wasn't even the largest imported item. That honour belonged to mineral fuels and mineral oils — which explains why Mohamad doesn't want to rock the boat more than he already has.
Not a surprise
India has been Malaysia's largest palm oil market for the five years. How imports of Malyasian palm oil have been on the decline — even as New Delhi's imports of palm oil from other countries such as Indonesia, which is not only the world's biggest palm oil producer but also has lower production costs, have accelerated over the last one year, doubling from a little over 3 lakh tonnes in January 2019 to more than 6 lakh tonnes in December 2019. Between 2014-15 and 2018-19, Malaysian palm oil imports have declined by almost 42.5% in value.
Fair warning?
Tensions between the two countries had been brewing since some time and India had fired a warning shot last year when it jacked up tariffs on imported palm oil by 5% in September 2019. The balance of trade between New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur lies with the latter — with exports to India exceeding imports from India by more than $4 billion. Moreover, while India is the seventh biggest export market for Malaysia, it, in return, is India's 17th biggest export market — making it way down the pecking order of economic importance.
Malaysia raises CAA, irks India
With Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad raking up the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which India sees as a matter entirely internal to the country, the government on Friday again called upon Malaysia to not comment on India’s internal developments without understanding the issues involved.
The government said CAA provided for citizenship through naturalisation to be fast-tracked for non-citizens who were persecuted minorities from three countries, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
“The Act does not impact in any manner on the status of any citizen of India, or deprive any Indian of any faith of her or his citizenship. Therefore, the prime minister of Malaysia’s comment is factually inaccurate,’’ the MEA said in a statement.
Mohamad had earlier said at the Kuala Lumpur summit that people were dying in India because of CAA. “Why is there a necessity to do this when all the while, for 70 years, they have lived together as citizens without any problem?" he asked.
“I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, is now taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship," he said. “If we do that here, I do not know what will happen. There will be chaos and instability, and everybody will suffer,” he added. Malaysia, like Turkey, has also repeatedly raked up Article 370-related developments in J&K in the past few months.
2020
'We're too small to retaliate': Malaysian PM
Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad has, in the past, criticised India's amended citizenship law and accused India of invading & occupying Kashmir. Malaysia also continues to harbour hate-preacher Zakir Naik.
New Delhi/Kuala Lumpur: The row over Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s unwarranted remarks on India’s amended citizenship law and Kashmir continues to escalate, with the leader of the Southeast Asian country reiterating on Monday that the CAA was “grossly unfair”.
Reacting to a question on India’s move to halt palm oil imports from Kuala Lumpur amid the simmering row over Mahathir’s remarks, the Malaysian PM said his country will not take retaliatory trade action against New Delhi.
"We are too small to take retaliatory action," Mahathir said while speaking to the media on the resort island of Langkawi. "We have to find ways and means to overcome that," he added.
Mahathir, who is 94 years old, has in the past criticised the Citizenship Amendment Act, which came into force this month. The Malaysian PM alleged that India was trying to "deprive some Muslims of their citizenship". He had earlier, at the UN General Assembly in September, accused India of invading and occupying Kashmir, in the wake of the Indian government’s move to revoke the erstwhile state’s special status by way abrogation of Article 370.
In the latest development in the row, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will not be meeting his Malaysian counterpart in Davos next week. While the official reason that has been given is ‘tight schedule’, sources said the cancellation of the meet is a fallout of the row over the Malaysian PM’s remarks.
The Malaysian government had earlier said that trade ministers of the two countries were likely to meet on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.
