Vajpayee, Mahathir, palm oil and lack of chemistry

By Amit Baruah

KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 17. The chemistry wasn't right. The Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, and his Malaysian counterpart, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, didn't hit it off during Mr. Vajpayee's four- day visit which concluded today.

As Mr. Vajpayee took wing to New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon, it became clear that the Malaysian obsession with putting pressure on India to reduce the recently-hiked duties on import of palm oil and some remarks by Dr. Mahathir at the banquet on Monday had created problems.

Mr. Vajpayee's decision to raise the issue of the recent killing of four Malaysian-Indians in a Kuala Lumpur suburb, during their one-to-one interaction on Monday didn't go down well either.

For its part, the Malaysian Government was expecting a positive response from India on lowering of palm oil import duty, an issue that affects tens of thousands of Malay farmers. That did not happen.

The Minister for Primary Industry, who deals with the matter, was despatched to India to explain the Malaysian point of view.

``We had decided to announce a reduction in import duty, but the banquet speech by the Malaysian Prime Minister made us change our minds,'' a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office toldThe Hindu .

During the banquet, the two Prime Ministers did not converse with each other - it was reportedly left to the Information Technology Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, to engage Dr. Mahathir.

Mr. Vajpayee, too, did not seem to relish the company. ``His taciturn behaviour did not help matters,'' a source said.

While there is little doubt that the Malaysians went out on a limb on palm oil, Mr. Vajpayee, who fumbled on many an occasion while addressing a luncheon Malaysia-India Business Forum on Tuesday, didn't seem to have his old appetite for engagement.

But the remark by Dr. Mahathir at the banquet that India, as a fast-growing nation, should remain ``committed to the process of peaceful negotiations in the settlement of conflicts in the region'' proved irksome. An earlier draft formulation of the same sentence, which was seen by the Indian side, was much harsher. Given such a dynamic, it was not surprising that the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, told reporters on Tuesday that Kuala Lumpur was quite happy with India's current status as a dialogue partner in the ASEAN.

Goal not achieved

If the objective of Mr. Vajpayee's visit was to soften up the Malaysian side into dropping its objections for an ASEAN plus India summit, then that goal has not been achieved. While the Malaysians will certainly be watching out for the results of the promised ``review'' on import duties of palm oil, Kuala Lumpur dropping its opposition to an ASEAN plus India meeting at summit level, appears to be a long shot.

Another sign of the poor chemistry during the visit was that a couple of days before the two Prime Ministers were to attend a business forum meeting on Tuesday, the Malaysians said Dr. Mahathir had other commitments and could not make it.

But last-minute efforts on the part of Indian diplomats did ensure that the Malaysian Prime Minister attended a truncated version of the original programme at the business forum.

Different views on NMD

India's views on the National Missile Defence (NMD) scheme were also sought by Dr. Mahathir. While it was explained that India had supported a few elements of the scheme, the Malaysians said after the substantive talks on Monday they had a very negative view of the NMD.

The lack of chemistry, which was evident to presspersons, has come at a bad time for the India-Malaysia relationship, given the economic opportunities available for both countries.

If India is looking for greater Malaysian investment and expertise in the infrastructure sector, there are many more opportunities for the existing and still-to-venture Indian information technology and allied companies in Malaysia.

Mr. Vajpayee, it was repeatedly pointed out, had taken the largest business delegation ever to accompany a Head of Government - larger than the one which accompanied him to the United States.

It would be a tragedy for both India and Malaysia if the course of the relationship is to be determined by extraneous issues - like the Malaysian obsession with palm oil duties levied by India.

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