‘No oil here’: Malaysians turn US Embassy space post into foreign-policy satire

The US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur’s attempt to show off an awe-inspiring throwback image from space instead triggered a distinctly Malaysian burst of self-deprecating humour, casting the country as strategically uninteresting amid Washington’s recent foreign policy moves.

On Friday, the embassy posted a 2016 photograph taken from the International Space Station showing lightning flashing in clouds high over Malaysia. The caption says the Southeast Asian nation had “never looked more electric”, clarifying that the bright bursts were lightning, not city lights.

Within hours, the comments section had turned into a meme thread, with hundreds of Malaysians leaning into a familiar strain of self-deprecating humour to portray the country as too rural, too spooky or too lacking in petroleum – offering only palm oil – to be of any strategic interest, a joke shaped by wider debates about US power, resources and foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

“Sorry, we don’t have oil, we all live on a tree, all those lights you see are bonfires,” commented user Aimin Razali. Amin Muthalib added: “we don’t have any oil here … only palm oil.”

Some commenters widened the joke beyond oil to questions of surveillance and intervention. “With no warning at all, it’s quite strange that the US Embassy released a satellite image of Malaysia,” wrote user Ina Abd Rahman.

Many joked about “freedom” and intervention, a recurring motif in global discussions about US actions abroad. “Nice and electric … imagine if it was oil? Here comes ‘freedom’,” wrote one user, echoing a recurring satirical framing of US foreign policy.

Others pushed the humour into darker territory. User Lina Abdullah Karim joked about being “kidnapped” – a clear nod to the Trump administration’s controversial military operation on January 3 that resulted in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s capture and transfer to the United States.