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DIPLOMACY: VAJPAYEE'S MALAYSIA VISIT
There's More To Malaysia...
... than Quattrocchi and palm oil. Slowly and surely that realisation
is dawning on Delhi and Kuala Lumpur, writes Rohit Saran.
The name Ottavio
Quattrocchi will interest more Indians than would the name Malaysia. But
grant the fugitive Italian businessman credit for making Indian politicians,
diplomats and journalists realise that the south-east Asian country has
much more to offer India than a conman. Obsessed with the extradition
of the Bofors accused Quattrocchi, the Government had announced the possibility
of signing an extradition treaty with Malaysia during Prime Minister A.B.
Vajpayee's visit. The media saw this as a signal of an early extradition
of Quattrocchi. Only after landing in Kuala Lumpur did the realisation
dawn that neither the treaty nor the extradition is likely soon. While
the treaty is yet to cross legal hurdles, Quattrocchi may not be extradited
even after it is signed because such treaties do not apply with retrospective
effect.
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RAISING A TOAST: Mahathir (extreme right) with Vajpayee and Minister
of State for Commerce Omar Abdullah at the official banquet
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If Indians were fixated with Quattrocchi, the
Malaysians were paranoid about customs duty on palm oil. Malaysia is India's
largest trading partner in south-east Asia and more than a third of the
$2.5 billion (Rs 11,500 crore) annual trade comprises import of palm oil
from Malaysia. India hiked the customs duty on palm oil to 75 per cent
last year to protect edible oil producers from the global prices crash.
That halved the palm oil import from Malaysia in 2000-01. Customs duty
on soyabean (also a raw material for edible oil), imported primarily from
Argentina and US, is 45 per cent. Malaysian ministers sought parity between
tariff on soyabean and palm oil. So deafening was the chorus for duty
reduction that Vajpayee almost announced a 10 per cent duty cut on palm
oil imports. The announcement was held back at the last moment out of
fear that the Government may be seen as giving in to Malaysian pressure.
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IT Minister Pramod Mahajan and Malaysian Foreign Minister S.H.
Albar signing an MOU
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Thankfully, Quattrocchi and palm oil did not
come in the way of the two countries realising why they needed each other
now more than ever before. As Vajpayee admitted, the miraculous progress
of Malaysia is an example of how a Third-World country could catapult
to First-World standards in less than 20 years. Malaysia's economic transformation
becomes evident at Kuala Lumpur airport itself-it is rated the world's
best. Malaysia's highways are better than those in some European countries
and its urban infrastructure is super efficient. Its per capita income
is $3,400 a year, compared to India's $450. Malaysia's attraction for
India is its knowledge base. Aware that rising wages will soon make Malaysia
an unattractive manufacturing base for foreign companies, Prime Minister
Mahathir bin Mohamad is keen that his country leaps into the it revolution.
For that he needs both investment from Indian it companies and their help
in spreading computer education in Malaysia.
India is one of the few countries in the world
that has an independent foreign policy. If it is getting closer to Washington
now it is out of its own will and not under pressure from the US. That's
something that India has supposedly clarified to Malaysia. Just as the
fact that India is now closer to Muslim countries like Iran, Indonesia
and Saudi Arabia than ever in the past two decades. That's one reason
why Malaysia seems ready to discard the Pakistan prism it allegedly saw
India through in the past. That would soften Malaysian resistance to India's
enhanced participation in ASEAN. Malaysia is India-coordinator country
for ASEAN till June 2003 and has been resisting moves from Indonesia and
Vietnam for an India-ASEAN summit.
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