Abstract

This seminar provides perspectives on Malaysia’s approach to foreign policy through a historical lens, with an objective of making modern Malaysian foreign policy more comprehensible. Three main themes in early Malaysian thought about foreign policy are identified and discussed, which will help to elucidate some of Malaysia’s current foreign policy priorities and preferences: (1) an emphasis on “reputation” or “prestige (2) a preoccupation with relationship building, and with fostering relations in a manner that would seem to be internationally distinct (3) a “moral balance” approach to the range of foreign polities in all their variety and contests.

About the Speaker

Professor Anthony Milner is a historian specializing on Southeast Asia (particularly on Malaysia and Indonesia) and its regional relations. He is currently on a two-year appointment in Malaysia as the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at the Institute of Strategic International Studies (ISIS Malaysia).

Professor Milner was previously the Director of the Academy of the Social Sciences project on ‘Australian-Asian Perceptions’ and had spent ten years as Dean of Asian Studies at the Australian National University. He is the co-chair of the Australian Committee of the Council for Security Relations in the Asia Pacific and International Director and Board Member at Asialink (University of Melbourne).

He has held visiting appointments at The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the National University of Singapore, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Humboldt University, Kyoto University, the University of Malaya and the National University of Malaysia. He holds a PhD from Cornell University.