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Asean chair an opportunity for Malaysia, but no panacea

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Malaysia will have to navigate the process of tackling regional deadlocks while forging a more cohesive and forward-looking Asean.

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Anwar Ibrahim
The Asean chairmanship offers Anwar Ibrahim the chance to reinvigorate the Asean spirit and set the momentum for subsequent chairs. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:
With Malaysia taking over as Asean chair in January 2025, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government will be provided with a once-in-a-decade opportunity to tackle issues confronting the grouping and accelerate regional integration to benefit its 695 million people.

While Malaysia’s leadership in moving the bloc forward will be in the spotlight through its year-long chairmanship, it is not a panacea to resolve all its problems and internal divisions, say analysts.

The issues at the top of Malaysia’s agenda will be Myanmar and the South China Sea, said Institute of Strategic and International Studies (Isis) Malaysia analysts Angeline Tan and Yanitha Meena.

“Asean’s failure to address the political and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar has brought into question its legitimacy as a regional player. The South China Sea is another difficult flashpoint.

“As a claimant state in the territorial dispute, Malaysia as chair will be expected to make progress in securing stability in the contested waters,” they wrote in a recent article.

The dispute involves competing territorial claims by China and several Asean countries, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Asean has sought unsuccessfully to deal with the aftermath of the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, which plunged the country into chaos.

They noted that Anwar has proved vocal on matters of international importance, raising expectations about Malaysia’s convening power to address issues that are increasingly debilitating the grouping. However, Tan and Yanitha opined it is “unlikely Malaysia can achieve much on this front”.

They argued there is too much emphasis being placed on the rotating chair. “These expectations must be tempered by the limitations of what can be realistically achieved in a single year.”

“Malaysia’s real contribution could be in laying the groundwork for a more cohesive, forward-looking Asean with effective and resilient mechanisms to better navigate the turbulent years ahead.

“The hope should be instead for Malaysia to ‘reinvigorate the Asean spirit’ and set the momentum for subsequent chairs. The onus shouldn’t be on Malaysia alone,” they added.

More than just geopolitics

However, the essence of Asean is more than just the geopolitics and rising competition among the great powers in the region. It also encompasses the region’s economy, trade, investment and cultures, and this is where Malaysia may make some headway during its chairmanship.

Anwar has outlined several key strategies for Asean when Malaysia assumes the role of chair in 2025.

Addressing the 44th Asean summit in Vientiane, Laos earlier this month, he said it is crucial to expand trade and investment links, and foster digital transformation in the region.

In addition, the grouping needs to strengthen member countries’ fundamentals as well as to reinvent, restructure and recalibrate their economies.

Crucially, Malaysia can play a key role in enhancing Asean economic integration with the goal of creating a stable, prosperous and competitive economic region.

The Penang Institute recently published its policy recommendations that Malaysia, as chair, should consider in accelerating Asean integration dynamics.

Its key recommendation is that Malaysia take the leading role in encouraging and enhancing regional trade and investment to create a more seamless and integrated economic environment.

“One of the primary steps involves ratifying and promoting the full utilisation of regional free trade agreements (FTAs), with a particular emphasis on FTAs established with key dialogue partners,” it said.

These agreements provide a structured framework for the possibility of reducing tariffs and fostering greater market access, significantly enhancing economic cooperation and integration across the region, it added.

The institute also recommended that Penang be positioned as a prime candidate for the proposed Asean Financial Centre.

Stage set for Anwar

Its executive director Ooi Kee Beng said the Asean chairmanship is a “super occasion for the unity government to regionalise the national discourse and focus”.

“Anwar is well-suited to play an internationally relevant role as peacemaker and as moderator of geopolitical tensions.

“More importantly, Anwar, in recognising the importance of trade in driving economic development and fostering peace, should advocate for the lowering if not removal of trade barriers, support trade connectivity and promote inclusive policies,” he wrote in a recent opinion piece.

Ooi said championing international trade should be the key rationale behind Malaysia’s role in regional and global affairs given current geopolitical tendencies towards economic warfare and closed economic zones.

The chairmanship is rotated annually among Asean’s 10 member states in alphabetical order. Malaysia last held the chair in 2015.

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