Delhi’s ongoing concern on Malaysia

Malaysian govt has assured India that the situation will be under control very soon

NEW DELHI: Othman Norlin, acting high commissioner of the Malaysian embassy was called in by the ministry of external affairs to express India’s concerns about the problems of the India origin citizens in that country.

Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told reporters on Tuesday that Biren Nanda, joint secretary in the foreign ministry summoned Norlin on Monday to discuss the situation in her country.

Menon said that the ministry told the Malaysian diplomat that there was “widespread concern in India’’ about what was happening in her country.

“We drew the attention of the Malaysian authorities to the feelings here. We were assured by them that they would do everything necessary to deal with the internal issue.’’ Menon, admitted it was an internal issue, as the Indian origin people in Malaysia are citizens of that country.

Officials in South Block admitted that Malaysian government had assured India that it was keen to maintain good relations with New Delhi and would ensure that things were under control.

For India this is a sensitive issue as the dividing line between interference in another country’s domestic affairs and speaking up for people of Indian origin, discriminated against in that country is extremely thin.

When ever foreign government’s have criticiSed India about the treatment of Muslim minorities, or talked of human rights scene in Kashmir, New Delhi had dubbed it as interference in its internal affairs.

At the same time South Block cannot ignore the popular mood in the country about ill treatment of Indians in Malaysia.

So in a way south Block realises from where  Malaysia  repeated assertions about the this being an internal problem comes.

The Indian government would ideally not have made a public statement on the issue. In fact, New Delhi had kept a discreet silence all through after the November 25 incident in Kuala Lumpur, but was forced to do so because of strong sentiments expressed in Parliament and the stand taken by UPA coalition partner and Tamil Nadu chief minister K. Karunanidhi. It is now hoping that the crisis would blow over and not affect relations with Malaysia.