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SCMP’s Asia desk

Indonesia’s main Islamic scholar body has urged citizens to keep up the fight for “Palestinian independence” by continuing to boycott products over their perceived links to Israel as the war in Gaza nears its one-year mark.
Cholil Nafis, chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, called on Indonesians to “never stop the boycott movement because the genocide has not stopped either”.
“We help Palestine according to our respective abilities. This is a matter of our common humanity, and we must not remain silent,” Cholil said in a statement on Monday.
In Indonesia, several Western brands, including KFC, McDonald’s and Starbucks, have been caught in the cross hairs of the boycott movement that has hit their revenues since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
Neighbouring Malaysia, where Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has steadfastly backed the wider Palestinian cause, also joined the drive shunning goods supposedly affiliated with Israel.

McDonald’s in February said international sales rose 0.7 per cent during the fourth quarter of last year, significantly lower than a 16.5 per cent rise in the same period in 2022. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said during a February earnings call that the company saw the “most pronounced impact” on its sales in the Middle East and in Muslim countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, citing the war as a factor.
The October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, with about 250 taken hostage and brought to Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 41,615 people in the blockaded enclave as of Monday, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The MUI in November issued an edict stating that buying products from companies supporting Israel’s war in Gaza in Palestine was forbidden.
Cholil said pressing on with the boycott movement was “real evidence and a clear commitment among Muslims that Indonesia faithfully supports and continues to help in realising Palestinian independence”.
“As long as the practice of human colonialism continues in Palestine, we will never stop fighting for Palestinian independence,” national newswire Antara quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi last week told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that “this is the right time” to recognise Palestinian sovereignty, which was an important step towards achieving a two-state solution. “We don’t want to wait until all Palestinians are displaced,” she added.
Indonesia’s UN delegates, along with diplomats from other countries, including Malaysia and Pakistan, walked out of the chamber during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in the UNGA defending Israel’s assaults on Gaza.


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Indonesia

Indonesian protesters demand the closure of McDonald’s, KFC, and other restaurant outlets over their perceived support of Israel in the Gaza war. Photo: Getty Images

A protest in Kuala Lumpur against arms makers supplying weapons to Israel. Photo: EPA-EFE

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi speaks in the UNGA in New York on Saturday. Photo: Bloomberg

Indonesia’s ‘bloody nickel’ under fire as US flags forced labour concerns

A nickel smelter in South Sulawesi province. Indonesia’s nickel industry has been linked to human trafficking in the past. Photo: AFP

A worker at a nickel smelter in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province. Photo: AFP

An aerial view of a nickel smelter in Sorowako, South Sulawesi. Photo: AFP

An explosion at a smelter furnace in Indonesia’s Morowali on December 24 last year. Photo: Facebook @JATAM

Is Israel pressuring Hezbollah to withdraw from Lebanon’s border with pager attack?

A police officer looks at a car in which a hand-held pager exploded in Beirut on Tuesday. Photo: AP

An Israeli shell hits the village of Houla in southern Lebanon on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hezbollah supporters listen to a televised speech of the party leader Hassan Nasrallah at a cafe in Beirut. Photo: dpa

A funeral in southern Lebanon on Thursday of a Hezbollah member killed by an explosion of a communication device. Photo: AFP

Malaysia’s Anwar talks ‘totally insane’ US-Israel nexus, Gaza – and his Hamas ties

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks during an interview at his office in Putrajaya. Photo: Hadi Azmi 

People in Kuala Lumpur hold placards during a silent protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Anwar with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during their meeting in Qatar last month. Photo: Facebook/Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar delivers a speech during the ‘Malaysia Stands with Palestine’ solidarity rally, held in Kuala Lumpur in October. Photo: EPA-EFE

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signs a joint Israeli-Arab peace commitment in 1997 to mark the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords alongside Leah Rabin, widow of assassinated Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin who signed the original accords. Photo: Reuters

Palestinians children search through the rubble of their homes on June 9, a day after an Israeli operation in the Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

US President Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference on October 18. Anwar said the focus should now firmly be on Israel’s prime minister. Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO/dpa 

People flee an explosion following an Israeli air strike on Al Bureije refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on June 3. Photo: EPA-EFE

After Starbucks and McDonald’s, Asia’s anti-Israel boycotts find a new target: Western beauty products

A woman applies lip gloss. Southeast Asia’s boycotts of Israel-affiliated businesses have extended to beauty brands like L’Oréal. Photo: AP

Muslim protesters shout anti-Israel slogans at an al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally earlier this month outside the US embassy in Jakarta. Southeast Asia’s Muslim-majority nations are leading the region’s rebuttal against the assault on Gaza by boycotting global brands with alleged links to Israel. Photo: AP

A woman applies lip gloss. Southeast Asia’s boycotts of Israel-affiliated businesses have extended to beauty brands like L’Oreal. Photo: AP

Women sit outside a Starbucks cafe at a shopping centre in Jakarta. Malaysian branches of Starbucks have become one of the targets of Southeast Asia’s anti-Israel boycotts. Photo: AFP

A Watsons store in Indonesia. Indonesian customers have been pivoting to other brands such as China-made Skintific and local brand Wardah amid the boycotts. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn 

The Body Shop Indonesia says it has donated 1 billion rupiah (US$62,000) to Gaza relief efforts. Photo: Aisyah Llewellyn 

This Week in Asia

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Southeast Asia

The call by Cholil Nafis, chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, comes as the war in Gaza nears its one-year mark


The call by Cholil Nafis, chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, comes as the war in Gaza nears its one-year mark.
