Malaysia Must Adapt Foreign Policy To changing Global Landscape - Former Diplomat

By Nur Atiq Maisarah Suhaimi

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Bernama) -- Malaysia must adapt its foreign policy to an increasingly complex geopolitical order to safeguard its strategic interests, a former diplomat said. 

Datuk Dr Ilango Karuppannan, who is Senior Adjunct Fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore’s, said although Malaysia’s foreign policy has been long anchored in non-alignment and balanced engagement, its approach to diplomacy cannot remain static as geopolitical dynamics continue to shift.

“I don’t think it needs to change per se,” he told Bernama here, recently. “But it needs to evolve, because the conditions out there are not static.”

He said Malaysia’s strategic location along the Strait of Malacca, which is one of world’s busiest maritime trade routes with some 100,000 vessels transiting annually, gives the country considerable geopolitical significance.

However, such an advantage also exposes it to geopolitical developments beyond its borders, as demonstrated by the recent supply disruptions and concerns over global energy security and maritime trade in the Strait of Hormuz.

Karuppannan said the increasingly uncertain global environment requires Malaysia as a trading nation to respond more proactively, particularly in issues with far-reaching implications for trade, maritime security, and energy security.

“We (Malaysia) are actually a very highly influential and consequential country, geopolitically speaking. But we don't portray ourselves as such.

“I think we are not doing it enough. We should show that we are more important than what we are,” he said.

Karuppannan, who had previously served as Malaysia’s ambassador to Lebanon, said the conflict in West Asia underscored the need for the country to adapt its foreign policy to changing realities.

He said Malaysia's diplomatic engagement in the region has traditionally focused on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, but Iran's growing strategic importance, particularly its influence over the Strait of Hormuz, requires greater diplomatic attention.

-- BERNAMA