Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
11 February 2024 | 18:00 SAST
3-min read

In Bangladesh, there are increasing calls to boycott Indian goods following allegations of Indian interference in Bangladesh national elections.

Anti-India sentiment in the region has increased in the past ten years, but after last month’s elections in Bangladesh, in which the incumbent Sheikh Hasina won a fourth term in power, a large “India Out” campaign was initiated.

Sanusha Naidu, senior research associate at the Institute for global dialogue, believes that the campaign is backed by opposition parties in Bangladesh.

“There was a sense that India was playing some kind of role in supporting that fourth term. But the real story here is that this India-Out campaign is being manifested by the Bangladeshi diaspora and opposition parties in particular,” Naidu said.

The reason for this support of the India-Out campaign is that India, which plays a dominant economic role in the South Asian context, supplies Bangladesh with a variety of products, goods and services, including cooking oil and beauty products.

Analysts have related this increasing anti-India sentiment to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) continuous marginalisation of the Muslim populace in India, as reflected by the BJP recently building a temple on the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. This comes alongside the court ruling on January 31 which allows Hindus to pray in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Masjid basement, as well as the centuries-old masjid razed to the ground in New Delhi, indicating a broader movement to specifically target masjids in India.

Naidu draws parallels between the India-Out movement and campaigns in the Maldives.

“And I think it’s also linked back to the positioning of India as a regional power, both in the South Asian context, but also in the Indian Ocean realm. Similarly, not long ago, we saw the Maldives president use an anti-Indian ticket to mobilise for his election campaign,” Naidu said.

A development further out in the Asia-Pacific region has brought into question New Zealand’s reputation. The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has joined an anti-Houthi coalition in the Middle East. Following a request form the United States, the NZDF sent six personnel to the region.

The US Department of Defense released a joint statement on February 3, stating that they had carried out strikes against 36 Houthi targets with support from New Zealand, among other countries.

Naidu notes that this move marks a departure from New Zealand’s traditionally independent foreign policy stance. While some view this as symbolic support for US and UK’s aggression against the Houthis, others raise concerns about the potential repercussions on New Zealand’s reputation and its trade relations with China.

“But I think the one factor here is definitely the question of how this will play out with other actors like China. And the fact of the matter is that China is the biggest trade partner, if I’m not mistaken, for New Zealand. And this could have repercussions,” Naidu said.

In Malaysia, the repercussions of the 1MDB scandal are being felt. The election watchdog, Bersih 2.0, has issued a warning that it will incite people to protest against leniency shown to corrupt politicians after former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s jail term was reduced.

“What they want the Malaysian government to do is to account for why they have decided to reduce the sentence to the ex-leader, Najib, and also why is it that political elites get a kind of favoured approach in terms of corruption scandals, and also in terms of sentencing,” Naidu said.

The current Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim’s reform agenda is facing scrutiny amid these accusations of favouritism.

“In the Southeast Asian context, people have always argued that corruption needs to be taken seriously and political and institutional reforms around corruption need to actually be stronger and send a stronger signal to the political elites and office bearers of political office that they can’t just be using their position for corruption,” Naidu said.

Listen to the Asia-Pacific Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Habib Bobat.