Geopolitics of Malaysia

Malaysia is located on the Malay Peninsula (the southern part of the Indochinese peninsula) and the adjacent islands of the Malay archipelago, at the intersection of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in an area that is traditionally part of the "Malay world" (the term "Malay world", Dunia Melayu or Alam Melayu, generally refers to geographical and cultural areas in which some ethnic groups of Indochina are common, including mainly present-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Timor eastern, southern Thailand and southern Philippines).

Malaysia has been a center of trade and religious communications since ancient times. From the late 18th century, Britain gradually took control of the Malay Peninsula and Northern Borneo (Kalimantan Island), which laid the foundations for present-day Malaysia. British colonial rule not only affected local politics, economy and culture, but also significantly changed the local national structure. As colonial development created a huge demand for labor, British settlers provided immigrants from China and South Asia, who formed a diverse ethnic society. Based on this, Malaysia's post-independence national policy should be committed to the realization of multiple objectives: not only to develop the identity of a super-ethnic group, contributing to the construction of a nation-state, but also to try to balance the interests of all ethnic groups, to achieve harmony, stability and sustainable development.

Malaysian Ethnic Politics: An Unstable Political Situation

Ethnic politics has accompanied the history of human development since the birth of the nation-state in the 17th century. Ethnic conflicts and even ethnic wars continue today in many African and Asian countries. In the history of political transformation in Malaysia, ethnic politics is mainly reflected in institutionalized participation in the political process. To some extent, the essence of Malaysian party politics is ethnic politics.

In Malaysia, ethnic politics is manifested in the fact that the government, by the will of the country, divides all Malays into bumiputra and non-bumiputra, Malaysian and non-Malaysian, Muslim and non-Muslims, thus giving the Malaysian Bumiputra political, economic and cultural advantages, as well as special rights for Muslims.

From 1957 to 2020, Malaysia's political development process suffered several waves of "political tsunamis" due to ethnic politics. From 1957 to May 2018, the Malaysian political parties United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Alliance of Hope established a political model of "one-party rule" that generally maintained the stability of the country's politics. Since May 2018, ethnic politics has gone from weakening to strengthening, and the political situation in Malaysia has proved to be an extremely unstable State.

Malaysian foreign policy: a three-tier diplomatic structure

In April 2009, Najib succeeded Abdullah as prime minister, promoting domestic political and economic reforms under the "One Malaysia" concept, but in terms of foreign policy, Najib continued Mahathir and Abdullah's foreign policy and formed a three-tier diplomatic model in relations with Southeast Asia, East Asia, the great powers and the Islamic world.

Relations with East Asia: the cornerstone of a security and diplomacy strategy

In the three-tier diplomatic structure, the core layer is South East Asia (SEA). The diplomatic focus at this level is twofold: the first is ASEAN as the cornerstone, the other is Southeast Asia as the center. The main significance of the so-called ASEAN as a cornerstone is that ASEAN is the backbone of Malaysia's foreign policy, being a regional supranational structure that Malaysia trusts. On the one hand, the prosperity, integrity, stability and harmonious coexistence of ASEAN with neighboring countries ensure the security of Southeast Asia; on the other hand, ASEAN itself calls on member states to engage in behaviors that reduce security risks, such as developing bilateral relations and promoting an open dialogue between member states on political and security issues, including confidence-building measures.

For Malaysia, strengthening relations with ASEAN includes at least three levels of importance: first, strengthening bilateral relations with ASEAN member countries; secondly, to promote and participate in ASEAN subregional cooperation programs such as ASEAN Eastern Growth Triangle (BIMP-EAGA), Mekong subregional cooperation, etc; third, to promote thea comprehensive cooperation with ASEAN, such as the ASEAN free trade area, as well as political cooperation and security. In 2011, Malaysia and Indonesia jointly promoted the "ASEAN Defense Industrial Cooperation" (ADIC) to enhance defense cooperation between ASEAN member states; in 2012, the Malaysian Defense Minister called on ASEAN countries to promote a "Security Plan" at the 11th Shangri-La Dialogue to jointly address cyber security threats.

With SEA at the center, the main significance lies in the fact that, in addition to ASEAN, the countries of Southeast Asia are Malaysia's most important diplomatic partners. This is reflected in Malaysia's relations with China. In June 2009, Najib paid an official visit to China, less than 60 days after he took office. China and Malaysia have signed a "Joint Action Plan for Strategic Cooperation", which outlines a major project for the future development of the two countries. China is expected to become Malaysia's largest trading partner. In addition to China, Najib also attaches great importance to developing relations with Japan. Since he took office in 2009, Najib has visited Japan several times. Japan is currently Malaysia's third largest trading partner and a major source of investment and Malaysia hopes to attract as many Japanese companies as possible.

At the multilateral level, Malaysia is actively promoting 10 + 3 cooperation, including China, Japan and South Korea in the ASEAN diplomatic framework, and other neighboring powers in the East Asia Summit. Najib said candidly that with the rise of China and India, ASEAN does not need to choose which side to take. Since ASEAN can have good relations with China and India at the same time, choosing one side will bring back the Cold War mentality. In other words, it is necessary to develop the relations of Malaysia with the countries of Southeast Asia, in addition to the needs of economic development, and a more important strategic objective is to promote the integration of ASEAN itself through the development of cooperation with China, Japan, South Korea and other countries.

Relations with the great powers: the pursuit of economic gain

In the middle layer are the major powers, mainly associated with Malaysia's relations with the United States, Russia, Great Britain, India, Australia and other extraterritorial countries. Indeed, since Mahathir has promoted a "look east" policy, Malaysia has placed the development of relations with foreign powers in a relatively secondary place in its diplomatic strategy. Compared to the Cold War period, the current relations between Malaysia and the United States, Russia, India, Australia, the United Kingdom and other great powers are of lesser strategic importance and more of economic diplomacy. In 2012, Najib publicly called on US companies to increase investment in Malaysia: «The United States is one of the largest foreign investors in Malaysia, so we hope to increase investment. There are many opportunities for cooperation between Malaysia and the United States in the field of investments».

At the same time, Malaysia has responded positively to the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). According to Najib, "Malaysia will benefit from the TPP as the market of the respective countries will be further expanded under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of the TPP member countries". Since Malaysia's accession to the TPP, 80% of goods have been exempt from tax and Malaysia's trade with the United States and other TPP member countries has increased significantly.

Regarding India, in February 2011, following the entry into force of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area agreement, Malaysia signed a free trade agreement with India to further strengthen trade cooperation between the two peoples. In December 2012, during the memorable ASEAN-India summit, Najib met with Indian Prime Minister Singh and expressed his strong desire to strengthen trade cooperation. Goal - increase in trading volume from US $ 15 billion to US $ 20 billion. For Australia, the free trade agreement between Malaysia and Australia entered into force on January 1, 2013. According to the document, from 2013 to 2019, Malaysia will gradually reduce tariffs and open the market. Furthermore, for European countries, as well as for the United Kingdom, Malaysia is also actively promoting negotiations for a free trade agreement. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said: «If Malaysia's FTA negotiations with the EU and the US can be completed, 80% of Malaysia's foreign trade will go to the markets of major countries».

Diplomacy with the Islamic world: relatively independent relations

The outermost layer is the Islamic world. As an Islamic country, Malaysia has been committed since its foundation to strengthening relations with the Islamic world, acting as a bridge between the United States and the Islamic world and advancing the peace process in the Middle East. At the same time, Malaysia is also actively developing economic cooperation with Islamic countries. Economic cooperation between Malaysia and Iran is relatively close. The two countries have signed a number of cooperation documents, such as the Mutual Investment Support Agreement, the High Tariff Relief Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two countries' markets. Malaysia's Minister of Trade and Industry Mustafa said Malaysia's palm oil exports to Iran are the most important part of the trade between the two countries. The development of trade between the two countries will not be affected by US sanctions against Iran. Furthermore, Malaysia continues to develop and improve the Islamic financial system, strengthen interaction with Islamic countries and strive to become the center of world Islamic finance.

In the aforementioned three-tier diplomatic structure, Southeast Asia is Malaysia's main interest. Malaysia's relations with the great powers are subordinated to Malaysia's strategy in Southeast Asia. Malaysia's relations with the Islamic world are relatively independent, but still relegated to the background of Malaysia's strategy in East Asia.

There are three main reasons Malaysia attaches such importance to East Asia. First, since the beginning of ASEAN, Malaysia's identity has shifted from the Commonwealth of Nations to the ASEAN countries. As one of the founding members of ASEAN, Malaysia has an indispensable responsibility to promote the development of ASEAN and the East Asian integration process. Secondly, in terms of national security, Malaysia has territorial and maritime sovereignty disputes with neighboring countries such as some ASEAN countries, China, Japan and South Korea. Peaceful dispute resolution and maintaining regional stability are the unique opportunities for Malaysian diplomacy, which in this field acts as a small country without strategic support. To this end, Malaysia must place relations with neighboring countries at the center of its diplomatic strategy. Third, present-day East Asia has formed a relatively mature mechanism for regional cooperation. These cooperation platforms, such as the five ASEAN Free Trade Agreements with the Great Powers, ASEAN + 1, ASEAN + 3, ASEAN + 8, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Asia Summit east, are enough to allow Malaysia to reap economic benefits and continue to extract opportunities from the great power play.

Translated by Alessandro Napoli