Abstract

The new Anwar administration has ushered in a fresh start to Malaysia’s foreign policy priorities. This includes re-invigorating Malaysia’s role as key Southeast Asian state by bolstering its activism in regional affairs and on specific issues of global significance. This is manifest in Malaysia’s diplomatic activism in the United Nations and ASEAN in meeting regional challenges and its strong advocacy of non-alignment vis-à-vis all major powers. On top of that, the Anwar government is focused on strengthening its Islamic diplomacy and building cooperative ties with diverse countries to promote international trade and investments, which are critical for Malaysia’s economic growth. However, Malaysia, like several other countries, has faced recent challenges arising from the destructive impact of Covid-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, intensifying US-China competition, and heightened domestic political contestation. But, with crisis come opportunities.

This seminar will address the following:

• What are the Anwar administrations’ fundamental foreign policy goals and its main tools for achieving these goals?
• Is Malaysia seeking to continue playing a leading role in regional affairs, including on ASEAN unity and centrality, the management of the impact from US-China rivalry, Middle East, regional stability and security, and trade liberalisation, and how might it do so in a changing environment?
• What are the domestic and external constraints in Malaysia’s conduct of foreign affairs?
• What are the key institutions and players in Malaysian foreign policymaking, and their respective perspectives?
• What are Malaysia’s key bilateral relations, and its vital interests in these relationships?
• What are the regional and international issues and developments of particular interest for Malaysian foreign policy in the coming years?

About the Speakers

Shahriman Lockman is Director (Special Projects) of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia. His research interests include Malaysian foreign and defence policies, Southeast Asian maritime security affairs, and Malaysia-China relations, including in the context of the South China Sea. He also manages the institute’s China Engagement Initiative, which promotes Track-Two dialogue between Malaysia and China. Shahriman was a consultant to the Defence Ministry on Malaysia’s inaugural Defence White Paper (2019), specifically on budgeting and implementation issues. He was also Malaysia’s representative in an academic assessment of common security challenges impacting the Five-Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) nations for 2020-2031 for the FPDA Policy Group (FPG). He was a Chief Writer of the Malaysian Foreign Policy Framework issued in 2021. He holds a Master of Strategic Affairs from the Australian National University.

Thomas Daniel is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy and Security Studies programme. His interests lie in the strategic-security challenges of Southeast Asia, including the impacts of major power dynamics on Asean. Within this, he looks mainly at South China Sea dispute, political-security cohesion within Asean and Malaysia’s security and foreign policies. Thomas also focuses on government policies (or lack thereof) to refugees, asylum seekers and other displaced people in Malaysia. He writes and speaks of these issues in local and regional forums and has commented on them in local and international media.

Thomas holds an MA (International Studies) from the University of Nottingham (Malaysia), a BA in Communication and Media Management, and a BA (hons) in Communication, Media & Culture from the University of South Australia. He was a public relations practitioner focusing on media engagement strategies for government and enterprise-technology agencies.

Ngeow Chow Bing is Director of the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya. Dr Ngeow received his PhD in Public and International Affairs from Northeastern University. He is the editor of Populism and Nationalism in the South China Sea Dispute (Springer, 2022, together with Peng Nian), Researching China in Southeast Asia (Routledge, 2019) and Southeast Asia and China: Exercises in Mutual Socialization (World Scientific, 2017, together with Lowell Dittmer). In addition, Dr Ngeow has written more than 40 articles in scholarly journals and book chapters. He has also published short pieces at South China Morning Post, East Asia Forum and Channel News Asia.