October 15, 2025
KUALA LUMPUR – THERE is overwhelmingly strong and emotional support from the Malay-Muslim community in Malaysia for the Palestinian issue, which is understandable given the religious affinity between the brethren.
And on Malay social media, questions have been raised about why there is less enthusiasm among non-Muslims.
The responses range from anger over the perceived lack of empathy to calls to frame the narrative in a more universal message of humanity.
I have made no apologies for my support of Palestinian struggles and I wear the badge of my stand proudly.
Unlike many Malaysians, I have seen with my own eyes and personally experienced the daily humiliations the Palestinians were subjected to even before the war.
It had been going on for decades – to be precise, for the last 70 years.
I visited Jerusalem in 2005 on a Christian pilgrimage, which was authorised by the Malaysian government.
I saw a Palestinian woman carrying a baby standing under the scorching sun as Israeli soldiers mocked her.
She stood there silently with downcast eyes for a long time as calls were made via walkie-talkies, presumably to check if she was a security risk.
A daily short journey home or to work could take much longer than usual – which is unimaginable to Malaysians – because of these checks. Sometimes it could become a six-hour ordeal affecting people’s productivity and hampering their movements. And all this was taking place in their land.
The eye-opener for me was when our group was made to wait for our entry from Jordan to Jerusalem at the immigration checkpoint.
We were made to wait for hours even though the place was empty. As the group gathered to pray, the young gun-toting soldiers ridiculed us loudly.
It was certainly a wake-up call for some of the Christians who may have thought of Israelis as the “chosen ones”.
There are enough videos on YouTube showing Christian pilgrims and even nuns being spat at and abused by Jews.
Jews are not Christians, full stop, even though Jesus was a Jew. And not all Palestinians are Muslims, even though most are.
Our guide, Jeries Farra, was an Arab Christian who spoke excellent Bahasa Indonesia, and from day one he told us point blank how his people were treated.
The Bible-quoting man had nothing good to say about Zionist Jews but also said there were secular and liberal Jews who despised the Zionist regime.
He was just as angry towards Muslim countries that had diplomatic ties with Israel. He accused them of being complicit in the injustice, as they quietly watched the sufferings of the Palestinians.
This is the lesson: Not all Muslim Arabs are as angry with Israel as most Muslim Malaysians here, and Christians have to draw a distinction between a Judaism-practicing Jew and a Christian.
There was a clear demarcation – the Palestinian towns were dirty and poor as a result of being deprived of funds, in contrast with the Israeli-run areas, which were clean and affluent. Many areas reminded me of Los Angeles, with manicured lawns, rolling hills, and palm tree-lined roads.
There was signage everywhere that proclaimed proudly “Jer-USA-lem” to show off their backer.
In fact, many Israelis I met had two passports – Israeli and American – with many sounding American.
I will never forget how our Malaysian tour manager, who organises pilgrimages, repeatedly appealed to us to buy from Palestinians, saying they needed our help. Many of us bought more than what we wanted to lend support to the Palestinian cause.
Ironically, too, many of the Biblical sites are located in predominantly Palestinian areas, and it was common to see Muslims selling Christian prayer items and Biblical souvenirs. It was also common for Muslims to celebrate Christmas then, especially in Beth-lehem, the Biblical birthplace of Jesus.
That one trip, which was over two decades ago, changed everything for me. I saw Palestinians as an oppressed people. As ordinary people who needed to have our support. I met Muslim and Christian Palestinians.
Fast forward to 2025, and I read about Christians and Muslims being killed at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, even as the church provided refuge to hundreds of Palestinians.
The Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, wasn’t spared either. Israeli forces shelled it on Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year.
The Israeli response is always the same – these were hideouts of Hamas or it was an accident.
Malaysians need to look deeper beyond religion as this is about a universal struggle for justice, human rights, and dignity.
It is a cause that should transcend religious and ethnic boundaries – and one that all Malaysians, regardless of faith, should care about.
People from around the world – in Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany, Colombia, Canada, the Nether-lands and South Korea – have come out to stage protests for the Palestinian cause, and most of them are Christians.
And for the past two years, Christians in the West Bank have cancelled Christmas celebrations and even refused to put up the Christmas tree at Bethlehem Square as a result of the war in Gaza. This is how Palestinian Christians have responded as one people.
Even many ultra-orthodox Jews with their black hats and jackets have come out to protest against the Zionist regime.
The Palestinians have been displaced, their homes and lands robbed. They have been discriminated against. And in the age of social media, we see with our own eyes the genocidal effort to wipe out Palestinians, some-thing we would have never imagined.
It is wrong for any Malaysian, regardless of race and religion, to say this is not our problem.
We have opposed apartheid in South Africa, supported the independence movement in Timor-Leste and now the country’s entry into Asean.
Malaysians have previously raised money for Cambodia and North Korea when they faced famine, as well as for the Bosnians.
To non-Muslims I say let’s not send the wrong message that we do not care. Injustices affect us directly, religiously, or culturally, and we must not forget that the late Pope Francis was the most vocal Christian leader on the plight of the Palestinians.
In his Easter message, given a day before he died in April, he expressed his “closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and Palestinian people’’. He prayed for all.
We need non-Muslims in Malaysia – Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and all – to speak louder and be seen to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, and at minimum, to pray for all the people in Palestine.
All religions believe in the universal values of freedom, dignity, and justice, and the right to just live peacefully.
Not every Palestinian is a terrorist or a Muslim, not every Jew is a Zionist, not every Arab nation has been sincere in wanting to save Palestine, and certainly many non-Muslims in Malaysia also support Palestine.
The Palestine issue is one that deserves the support of all Malaysians. Let’s not be selective in our causes.
National Journalism Laureate Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai is the chairman of Bernama. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.