MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CITIZENS INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS U.S. CONGRESSIONAL COERCION: MALAYSIA’S SOVEREIGNTY AND NON-ALIGNMENT ARE NOT FOR SALE
22nd July 2026
[KUALA LUMPUR] – Citizens International unequivocally condemns the recent threats issued by a group of United States lawmakers—including Greg Landsman, Josh Gottheimer, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz—who have demanded that Malaysia reverse its sovereign policy regarding Israeli citizens within a 15-day ultimatum.
These lawmakers have gone so far as to urge U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider punitive measures, including the suspension of International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding and a wholesale review of our bilateral security and economic relationship.
This demand is nothing short of unacceptable political intimidation and a direct affront to the fundamental principle of sovereign equality enshrined in the United Nations Charter. For many countries of the Global South, sovereignty is not a ceremonial title. Malaysia, as a sovereign nation, has the capacity to say no to the demands of the powerful, and to say yes only when a policy serves its own people.
Similarly, Malaysia’s domestic and immigration policies are the sole prerogative of the Malaysian government and its people; they are not subjects for debate in the halls of the U.S. Congress, nor shall any nation negotiate its immigration policy, or its foreign policy, under duress from a foreign legislature.
Citizens International also unequivocally condemns the bullying “diplomacy” that attempts to force nations into simplistic “with us or against us” categories. Such political bullying seeks to transform military and economic assistance into weapons of coercion to compel sovereign states to abandon their moral and political principles.
The accusation that Malaysia is “anti-Semitic” is also false and designed to enforce silence and obedience. Malaysia, like most sovereign nations in the Gobal South, has also made it clear that its opposition has always been directed at the policies and conduct of the State of Israel — its decades-long occupation of Palestinian land, its illegal settlements, its collective punishment of a besieged civilian population, and its documented violations of international humanitarian law.
Malaysia’s position is a principled opposition to occupation and apartheid with racial or religious hatred, based on our commitment to active nonalignment and principles of international law. The attempt by U.S. lawmakers to equate criticism of a state’s actions with prejudice is a transparent effort to silence legitimate discourse.
Citizens International calls upon the Government of Malaysia to firmly reject these threats without compromise. Malaysia’s formulation of “active nonalignment” as its foreign policy doctrine, therefore, must be understood not as a principle of passivity in the face of oppression and injustices conducted illegally by great powers against other sovereign nations; rather, it is a position that actively reaffirms sovereignty against the binary pressures from the “bully” or the “aggressor.”
We urge the international community and the Global South to stand in defense of national sovereignty against coercive diplomacy. Malaysia’s solidarity with the Palestinian people, alongside others in Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela, is a matter of justice and humanity that will not be dictated by threats, sanctions, or external political pressure.
Imran Rasid
Executive Director,
Citizens International
