Co-authored by W. Robert Pearson, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey. This article first appeared on The Huffington Post.
The Iranian diaspora in Malaysia is a diverse and vibrant community of educators, students, artists, and entrepreneurs. The following essays provide snapshots of the historical and cultural connections between Iran and Malaysia, as well as the personal and professional experiences and creative output of some of the members of this community.
Artist Asghar Yaghoubi, who was born in Shiraz, Iran, moved to Malaysia in 2008. An accomplished painter and sculptor, he also teaches art at the Cube Gallery, of which he is the founder and director. The gallery is the first and only art gallery in Southeast Asia owned by an Iranian.
Artist Pegah Jahangiri hails from Tehran, but is currently a doctoral student in visual arts at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. She recently spoke to MEI about her work with batik, strikingly dyed cloth found all over the world, but particularly popular and refined in Southeast Asia.
Iraqis who cast their votes in postponed local elections in Anbar and Nineveh on 20 June had a lot on their plates. Beyond issues relating to the provision of services locally, the last weeks before the elections saw massive protests against the central government in Baghdad. The many angry slogans on display included calls for greater autonomy for the Sunni-majority areas of Iraq as well as expressions of solidarity with the mainly Sunni Syrian opposition movement.
The sun is beating down and it isn’t even midday. Clutching the all-important paperwork that will get them coveted UN food vouchers, Syrian refugees look harried. The women pull at their children to hurry through the litter-filled yard of the sports club in the town of Bar Elias that serves as a distribution center for the UN’s hard-pressed World Food Program (WFP). Unlike their men, who head for the shade to smoke and exchange news, the women don’t dally, making for the snaking lines into a crowded hall where they will be called in groups by registration numbers.
The Iranian diaspora in Malaysia is incredibly diverse. Supporters of the Green Movement, students, individuals who fast and pray and those who do not know the direction of the qibla, clerics who promote secularism and those who promote the authority of the vilayat-i faqih, Iranian Kurds, Turks, and Arabs, journalists, artists, and environmentalists: all these—and more—constitute the community of Iranians who have fled or quietly moved to Malaysia.
Randa Slim, MEI Scholar and adjunct research fellow at the New America Foundation, discusses the implications of Hezbollah's growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon's Shiite community.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.