2019 UK-Malaysia diplomatic crisis
The 2019 UK-Malaysia diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic crisis that occurred around June 2019. It was sparked by a state visit that month by the reigning Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, whom at the time of the crisis's unfolding, was conducting a state visit to the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia. Meanwhile, upon the arrival of the British entourage on Malaysian soil, they were met with a number of large protests and demonstrations held against the British monarch's visit to the country. However, throughout the entire duration of the state visit, no serious incident was ever recorded.
As a result of the crisis, relations between the two countries briefly soured, particularly as a result of a controversial interview involving the then-Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohammad, whose remark was negatively received and condemned by international observers. Ultimately, in the weeks following the crisis's end, relations between the United Kingdom and Malaysia were reportedly restored back to normal, with the Malaysian government having allegedly sent a formal apology statement to the British government, in response to the complications resulting from the crisis.
Background
Following the abdication of King William VI from the British throne on October 2017, his eldest daughter and successor subsequently ascended to the throne as Queen Alexandra, thereby becoming the new head of state of the United Kingdom. However, her traditional coronation would not take place almost two years later, as a result of the new Queen's preoccupation with her academic studies. Eventually, her coronation was indeed held two years later, that is, on May 11th 2019.
In around a month into her coronation, the newly coronated Queen Alexandra was scheduled to conduct a state visit to the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia, which prior to its independence in August 1957, was an important British colony in the region. At the time of the crisis, the serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the Conservative politician, David Cameron, whom has been in office since May 2010, while in Malaysia, its prime minister at the time was Mahathir Mohammad of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, which a year prior to the crisis, had notably unseated the Barisan Nasional coalition, which had ruled the country since its independence. Mahathir himself was previously the country's fourth prime minister under the Barisan Nasional coalition before later defecting to the rival Pakatan Harapan coalition, where he served as the coalition's current chairman, in which capacity, he helped lead the coalition to their very first electoral victory in Malaysian history. Around that same time, the position of the country's head of state also underwent a notable change, when Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan, whom was then the 15th King of Malaysia suddenly abdicated the throne, thereby paving way for the ascension of the 16th and current King of Malaysia, Sultan Abdullah of Pahang. On the other hand, just the year before, Sultan Muhammad V had infamously married the Russian-born former beauty pageant contestant, Oksana Voevodina. However, on July 1st 2019, the couple's marriage later came to an end, when the Malaysian royal divorced his Russian-born wife by a "talak tiga" or talaq baayin, considered in Islam to be an irrevocable divorce and the most severe form of divorce in the religion.
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Crisis
The crisis began when in the days leading up to the eventual state visit, dated June 12th 2019, it was announced by both the British and Malaysian media that the British monarch was planning to visit Malaysia in her official capacity as the United Kingdom's head of state. Almost immediately, while the announcement received a largely lukewarm and indifferent response among the British public, it otherwise received an overwhelmingly negative response among the Malaysian public, particularly among the Malay majority in the country. As a result, in the following days after the announcement was made, politicians from both countries began to call for the planned state visit to be scrapped entirely, albeit for different reasons. Nevertheless, it was ultimately confirmed in an official statement published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which confirmed the plans for the aforementioned state visit, while its Malaysian counterpart would also do the same just a day later.
Timeline
June 10
On June 10th, the president of the Malaysian Islamic Party, Abdul Hadi Awang declared in a sermon that "allowing this state visit by a Jewish-born queen would be no different than recognising and accepting Israeli delegates into our country". He also subsequently took to remind attendees of the sermon that "the British were the very people that gave the sacred land of Palestine to the Jews, and thus, when they send their very own Jewish queen to our country, we must never cave in and always fight and stand by our Islamic principles". On the other hand, Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Conservative politician and Member of Parliament for North East Somerset reiterated a previous call to have the planned state visit immediately terminated, citing "great security risks" concerning the state visit. He also later stated that "no responsible government would sacrifice or throw the Queen into a pack of wolves".
Meanwhile, according to a report later published by the Secretary of State for Defence after the conclusion of the state visit, a joint task force consisting of an undisclosed number of operatives from both the Special Air Service and the SRU units were then secretly flown to Malaysia days ahead of the British entourage, under the guise of conducting a "search and destroy" mission, in conjunction with Malaysian authorities.
June 12
Two days later, the planned state visit finally went into motion. Departing from Heathrow Airport in London, England, the British entourage would arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 5:30 P.M local time, where the Queen and her entourage were received by Saifuddin Abdullah, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (he initially lost his position following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan coalition government but was later reinstated under the new Perikatan Nasional coalition government). Soon afterwards, the British entourage was successively received by the King of Malaysia, Abdullah of Pahang at the royal residence of Istana Negara. In the midst of this, around thirty minutes after their arrival at the Istana Negara, crowds of protesters began to form outside of the royal compound, holding multiple banners and posters which a BBC correspondent described as being a mix of "ultranationalism, monarchism, and anti-Semitism". Nonetheless, the protesters were promptly forced away by local authorities, although they would later reconvene once more in front of the royal palace during the subsequent nightly hours, while the British entourage was being treated to a state dinner with the King and Queen of Malaysia.
Meanwhile, at 10:00 P.M local time, it was announced by the then-Inspector-General of Police that all roads leading to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur would be temporarily closed for the time being, in light of several reports claiming that a mass demonstration was to be held the following day centered in and around the capital city.
June 13
On the following day, the British entourage first toured the area of Kuala Lumpur, during which they also visited the iconic Petronas Towers building, which to date, remains the tallest twin towers in the world. After an hour or so, the group subsequently visited the National Museum, where they were treated to a sight of Malaysian culture and history. Then, during the subsequent afternoon hours, the Queen also personally met the serving Menteri Besar of Selangor, with whom she subsequently held a private discussion on issues ranging from democracy to social issues in general. In the meantime, an article published shortly afterwards by one of the country's media outlets revealed that Ahmed Taha, a thirty-two year old Malay citizen was recently arrested by the Royal Malaysia Police, whom were reportedly alerted of an assassination plot after the man had made his plans public in the form of a status update on Facebook, in which he swore to "remove the pesky Jewish, pro-Zionist queen once and for all". Despite this, it was soon confirmed that the ongoing state visit was to proceed as usual, while additional reinforcements were otherwise called in to reinforce the entourage's overall security. Meanwhile, Ahmed Taha himself was later sentenced to ten years imprisonment for his plans to assassinate the British monarch.
In the early hours of the day, a flight from Heathrow Airport also landed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, precisely at 5:30 A.M local time. While details of the flight were initially kept secret from public knowledge, it was later believed to have been carrying Queen Christy, the Queen's very own mother, and a number of additional staff members for the entourage itself.
June 14
On June 14th, the Queen and her entourage afterwards visited the state of Melaka, where they also met the state's chief minister, before proceeding to visit some of the state's notable tourist attractions, which includes the famous A Famosa, a 16th-century Portuguese military fort constructed sometime after the Portuguese had previously captured the important city of Malacca in 1511, which was then the capital of the Malacca Sultanate. Upon the conclusion of their tour around the state, the entourage proceeded next to the neighbouring state of Negeri Sembilan, before eventually heading for the southernmost state of Johor, where she met and was received by the Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail Idris, whom the Queen soon befriended over their mutual interest in football. In the midst of this, she also met with all the players of the Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club, a move that reportedly sparked considerable uproar among the Johorean public, whom reportedly threatened to indefinitely boycott the aforementioned football club in light of their appearance with the British monarch, although the boycott itself was later terminated after an official apology statement was made by the club's captain, while the Johor Crown Prince himself otherwise defended his meeting with the Queen, claiming that the meeting was "nothing more than two adults talking about football like normal people do all the time at coffee shops and the like".
Later on, at 3:30 P.M local time, the group soon departed for Sarawak, a state in Malaysia located on the Borneo island, where the Queen, whom upon arriving in the state, once more met with the state's respective chief minister, before proceeding to meet with several officials representing Sarawak's native groups.
June 15
On the following day, the British entourage proceeded eastward to Sabah, where after the customary tradition of meeting the state's respective chief minister, they subsequently visited the iconic Mount Kinabalu, which the Queen herself briefly climbed for about fifteen minutes in total. Soon afterwards, the group departed back for Peninsular Malaysia. Then, they proceeded to tour the states of Pahang and Terengganu, during which the Queen herself notably pledged a donation of financial aid worth approximately £5 million (RM24 million) for the purpose of further protecting the state's abundant turtle population.
June 16
On the penultimate day of the state visit, the Queen herself subsequently met the then-Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, whom was popularly rumoured to have been chosen as a deliberate replacement for then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, whom amidst rumours of having personally refused to meet the British monarch himself, was otherwise announced to have been "incapable of fully executing his duties as usual for the time being". The official meeting between the two women took place at the Perdana Putra building, which is itself the office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia situated in the country's administrative capital city of Putrajaya. The two subsequently embarked on a cruise ride together along Putrajaya Lake.
June 17
On the final day, the Queen and her entourage subsequently headed up north to the island state of Penang, which is situated west of the much larger state of Kedah, which it is connected to through the Merdeka Bridge, a concrete tied arch bridge connecting the two states with one another. While visiting the island state, the Queen herself notably visited aswell as dined at a number of the island's local restaurants and eateries. At the same time, the Queen also customarily met with the state's serving chief minister, Chow Kon Yeow, whom she openly lauded and praised for the state's contemporary prosperity. Then, after a few hours long appearance at the Hard Rock Hotel in Penang, the British entourage eventually departed back for the United Kingdom from the Penang International Airport, thereby effectively concluding the Queen's state visit to Malaysia.
Aftermath
While the state visit itself began and subsequently ended without any incident, it nonetheless remained a point of contention among both the British and Malaysian public. In particular, a number of news reports published by Malaysian media outlets in the days following the end of the state visit claimed that large numbers of Malaysians, particularly those from the Malay majority had attempted to travel over to the island state of Penang, when it became known that the Queen herself was visiting the state for her last day in the country, although this apparent effort was mostly foiled by authorities, whom temporarily blocked any vehicles coming from the mainland to Penang, although those heading towards the mainland from Penang itself were otherwise allowed to normally proceed.
Meanwhile, just a day after the state visit concluded, the High Commissioner of Malaysia to the United Kingdom, Mohamad Sadik Kethergany subsequently issued an official statement of apology to Prime Minister David Cameron, the United Kingdom's head of government. Meanwhile, a controversial interview with the BBC held just a few days afterwards involving then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad later became a source of major controversy, when the Malaysian politician, whom in the interview, declared that "regardless of the current state of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Malaysian Muslims will never be muted or silenced in their advocacy for the rights of Palestinians oppressed by the Zionist regime", while also claiming that "it is illogical to think that the presence of a Jewish Queen of England would not stir up the Malaysian society, whom have long been the opponents of Jewish world domination and international Zionism". In response, a number of officials from the British government, including Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, subsequently called for an "immediate demand for apology from the Malaysian prime minister for having rationalised violence and prejudice against another country's head of state", while the Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Saifuddin Abdullah otherwise declared that "the Prime Minister's words during the interview do not represent Malaysia's official position in regards to the issue surrounding Her Majesty The Queen". Later, on June 20th, Reuters reported that the Malaysian government has "issued an official statement of apology in regards towards the admittably hostile atmosphere present during the Queen's state visit to the country". This report was neither confirmed nor was it denied by the Malaysian government.