KUALA LUMPUR: With the Russia-Ukraine war raging on, Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein questioned the relevance of existing security cooperation mechanisms, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), in deterring conflicts.
Hishamuddin, in the same vein, also advocated for countries to build and strengthen sub-regional cooperation to tackle security challenges.
He said the Trilateral Cooperation Arrangement (TCA) between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to guard the Sulu and Sulawesi Seas was a good case in point.
"We have seen first-hand with the Ukraine-Russia conflict how organisations like Nato are tested.
"Members of Nato have met Russia's invasion of Ukraine with outrage, deploying thousands of troops to Eastern Europe to protect their alliance members.
"Though Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, the potential of the conflict sparking into a much larger war exists and the fear of it becoming a reality is conceivable, as much as we want to deny it.
"These uncertainties prompt us to question today – are existing forms of security cooperation still beneficial as a deterrence, or will they actually escalate existing conflicts?
"In discussing new forms of security cooperation, we must come to the realization that all our existing structures are not enough.
"It is my firm belief that the foundations of wider security cooperation can be laid via smaller building blocks, such as sub-regional cooperation initiatives.
"The key is to adopt a gradualist approach and an example of this that is closest to my heart is the Trilateral Cooperation Arrangement (TCA), forged by Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines following a spate of kidnappings and terrorist activities by militant groups in mid-2016.
"We showed the world that sub-regional cooperation, or as I like to call it – "mini-lateralism" – is the way forward.
"Case in point was the zero incidents of kidnapping-for-ransom (KFR) reported in 2021, signifying we are on the right track," he said, during his plenary address at the 19th Asia Security Summit in Singapore on Saturday.
Hishamuddin said the TCA members have also agreed to include Brunei in the sub-regional grouping, pending consent from the Sultan of Brunei.
Another successful example of Malaysia's sub-regional security initiatives, he said, was the Malacca Straits Patrol (MSP).
"The MSP, for its part was born out of the mutual recognition by Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand that we shared a common need to secure the Straits of Malacca.
"Now, Dr Ng of Singapore along with DPM Prawit of Thailand, Pak Prabowo and I have agreed to elevate the MSP to a Ministerial Dialogue to further strengthen our cooperation in this regard," he said.
In the case of South China Sea, Hishamuddin stressed that all ten Asean countries must stand united and ensure that diplomacy takes precedence in approaching the dispute.
"As individual nations, we cannot hope to match the influence and might of more powerful countries but as a bloc, only the foolish and blind can deny our strength," he said.