Is it time to review Malaysia’s foreign policy? There are three major reasons to do this.
FIRSTLY, Pakatan Harapan has taken over from the previous administration with the promise to remove the old and bring in new ideas;
SECONDLY, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was chosen to lead once again as the seventh prime minister; and,
THIRDLY, Dr Mahathir conducts foreign policy like he used to do when he was the prime minister the first time.
To most Malaysians, however, nothing has changed. This could be due to the transitional nature of the prime minister’s position as Dr Mahathir has said he will hand over power to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim after two years.
Malaysia’s stability and prosperity are the products of a democratic system of government, support for an open and free trade system, and having friendly relations with nations.
To move forward, the country needs to keep abreast with changes happening globally.
Malaysians realise that a greater awareness of geography, history, culture and economics, particularly for Malays, has enabled them to adopt new ways of doing things.
In foreign policy terms, this could be translated into the country depending less on the ideals of independence and development.
Global trends have influenced Malaysia’s foreign policy and enabled it to face the challenges of ideology, regionalism, liberalisation, multilateralisation, globalisation, digitalisation, e-commerce and artificial intelligence.
If a foreign policy review is to be considered, we must look at where we were, where we are and where we want to be.
DR AZHARI KARIM
Retired ambassador, Kuala Lumpur