Press Release
The Malaysian Prime Minister’s Visit to China, what is Wrong?

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made his first official visit to China for three days, started from March 29^th, since being appointed Prime Minister on the 24th November 2022. Almost all pro-government news channels and portals reported and exaggerated the achievements of this visit as if it was the biggest success for Malaysia. One cannot deny that this propaganda was imperative in order to restore and beautify the image of the 10th Prime Minister after his visit to Saudi Arabia a week earlier. That visit was deemed a failure by the opposition as Anwar failed to meet the premier of the said Arab country.

Anwar was manifestly proud when he was given a red carpet welcome in China and was able to meet the President and Prime Minister of the Great Wall country. This inaugural visit witnessed Malaysia receiving the highest investment commitment from China amounting to RM170 billion - the largest amount to date. This was the result of 19 Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) signed between China and Malaysia in various business fields, especially green technology and digital economy. Both sides agreed to boost trade relations and economic cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since 2009, China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner where in 2022, total bilateral trade was worth RM487.13 billion (US$110.62 billion).

Despite Anwar's pride in brokering such a large investment, the reality is that this will only strengthen China's grip on Malaysia's economy, which in turn will affect any political decision by Malaysia in a direction that pleases China. Directly or indirectly, this situation has actually given way for China to dominate not only the Malaysian economy, but also this country’s politics and rulings. This is contrary to what Allah (swt) says,

[وَلَنْ يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا]

“And never will Allah give the disbelievers over the believers a way (to overcome them)” [An-Nisa’: 141].

Thus far, as one of the world’s great powers, China seems to be disinterested in physical colonization. However, it has managed to economically “occupy” many countries in the world including several in Europe and the Middle East. This has certainly shaken the American hegemony. Being careful not to agitate Uncle Sam, Anwar, during his speech in China emphasized that Malaysia will always maintain good relations with America. Despite the divine obligation to sever relations with infidel countries that are hostile to Islam, it is unfortunate that Anwar decides to continue good relations with these states, which makes him no different to the previous Malaysian leaders.

China's hypocrisy is so blatant that during the meeting, Xi Jinping expressed his concern about the situation in Myanmar and voiced that China supports the ASEAN-led efforts to deal with the situation in Myanmar, including efforts to resolve the Rohingya problem. In his own country, he has been committing inhuman tortures on Uighur Muslims and suddenly shows concern for Rohingya Muslims? Did Anwar not see the hypocrisy of China, or is he ignorant about China's cruelty towards Muslims in East Turkestan, or did he just turn a blind eye on the issue for the sake of some worldly rewards that he is seeking from China?

Indeed, there is no comparison between Rasulullah (saw) and Muslim leaders today. Today, the leaders are doing the exact opposite of the Prophet (saw). When the Prophet (saw) came to power in Medina, despite being a small newly-established country at that time and even considered weak by her enemies, the Prophet (saw) sent delegations to Rome and Persia, two superpowers of the world at that time, inviting them to Islam and submit to Allah’s Deen for their safety. Throughout his (saw) ruling, the relations built by the Prophet (saw) with foreign countries were based solely on the Islamic faith, not on benefit, let alone establishing good relation with countries hostile to Islam and its Ummah just to obtain economic gains. On the contrary, Muslim rulers nowadays establish foreign relationships for exactly those reasons, yet, never was their mission to invite leaders of these foreign countries to Islam. When the Prophet (saw) establishes a foreign relationship, Da’wah and Jihad were always the fundamental reason.

Indeed, Muslims need a Caliphate (Khilafah) upon the methodology of the Prophethood which will not only implement the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger within the state, but also to restore the dignity and glory of Islam when dealing with Kufr countries. When the Caliphate is established very soon Bi’thinallah, we will no longer witness Muslim leaders frantically seeking Izzah from the disbelievers as they do today, but we will Insha Allah witness the contrary - the Kufr leaders are the ones who will come to meet the Caliph in respect and humility. Wallahu A’lam.