MALAYSIA FORGEING POLICIES

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Malaysia continues to pursue an independent, principled and pragmatic foreign policy,

founded on the values of peace, humanity, justice, and equality. The overarching thrust of its
foreign policy has been to safeguard Malaysia’s sovereignty and national interests as well as
to contribute meaningfully towards a just and equitable community of nations through the
conduct of effective diplomacy.

Malaysia’s foreign policy is largely influenced and shaped by three key factors, namely its
strategic location in Southeast Asia, its attributes as a trading nation as well as its unique
demography. While the foreign policy approaches may have differed over the years due to
changing domestic and external factors, the basic principles of the policy have continued
since independence. Policy-making has been guided by the criteria of credibility together
with consistency and coherency, which have served the country’s best interests.
2.0 Objectives

2.1 The ministry of foreign affairs or Wisma Putra as it commonly known has been mandated
to pursue the nation’s foreign policy in accordance with the federal constitution of Malaysia
with the objective of protecting and promoting the nation’s interest at the international level.

2.2 Malaysian’s foreign policy is premised on establishing close and friendly relations with
countries in the community of the nations. It will continue to respect the internal affairs of
other nations and advocate a policy of non-interferences recognizing the sovereignty of
nations.

2.3 Since Malaysia’s independence 1957 till today, the vision of our foreign policy remains
consistent that is to safeguard Malaysia’s national interests as well as contribute towards a
just and equitable community of nations. This is achieved through upholding the country’s
sovereignty and promoting universal peace; fostering friendly relations with foreign countries
and protecting Malaysia’s interests in the regional and international arena.

2.4 n line with the objectives of promoting and protecting Malaysian national interest abroad,
the ministry has established a total 0f 105 missions in 83 countries and appointed 53 honorary
consuls who provide support and assistance in promoting Malaysians interest abroad.

2.5 Since the independence of Malaysia in 1957, the nation’s foreign policy has gone through
several phases of significant transition with different emphases under five previous
premiership. The policy has been largely determined by the established national characteristic
and succession of political leadership as well as by the dynamic regional and international
environment.
3.0 Problem statements

3.1 The realm of foreign policy that is the international environment has become more and
more complex over the last few decades. Technological advancement has brought about the
phenomenon of globalisation, which has drastically transformed modern day realities,
particularly through the compression of time and space. For instance, modern communication
and media technologies have enabled news and ideas to be disseminated at unprecedented
speed across the globe. Also, the world has become much more interconnected in many ways.
Movement of people, goods and services are much easier, cheaper and faster.

3.2 Today, a company can manufacture different parts of one product in different parts of the
world, to minimise its costs. This significant development in our time has impacted people all
over the world, which have affected many governments and to some extent, their external
relations.

3.3 One impact of the free flow of ideas in the globalised world is the rise in democratisation
processes across the world since the 1990s. Many observers focus their attention on five
‘new’ democracies - India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and Indonesia (IBSATI) - that had
emerged from colonisation, apartheid or military dictatorship. Each one had gone through a
significant event that marks its transition; Brazil in 1985, India in 1991, South Africa in 1994,
Indonesia in 1998 and Turkey in 2002.

3.4 Similar to countries of IBSATI, Malaysia underwent a historical democratic transition in

2018. It is indeed a momentous achievement that all Malaysians should celebrate and be
proud of. However, each of the much referred IBSATI has been facing complex challenges in
its transition process to full democracy. In this regard, Malaysians must also be mindful of
the challenges that lie ahead for their country in this transitional process.
4.0 ANALYSIS

4.1 Participants and procedure

This study identify the direction and emphasis in foreign policy, change can be clearly
detected in policies, which are primarily based on identity or recognition motives. This is
related to recent experiences in the domestic environment. One of the significant factors that
helped by Malaysian administration to secure the historic victory of foreign policy. The scope
of this study is Malaysia foreign policy the sample was used to select one student of
University Malaysia Pahang. First, based on stratified sampling, Malaysia foreign policy.
Second, the questionnaires were taken to students based on interview sampling (list of student
“name).

4.2 Data analysis

Malaysia continues to pursue an independent, principled and pragmatic foreign policy,

founded on the values of peace, humanity, justice, and equality. The overarching thrust of its
foreign policy has been to safeguard Malaysia’s sovereignty and national interests as well as
to contribute meaningfully towards a just and equitable community of nations through the
conduct of effective diplomacy.
4.3 Finding

Since gaining independence in 1957, Malaysia has successfully diversified its economy from
one that was initially agriculture and commodity-based, to one that now plays host to robust
manufacturing and service sectors, which have propelled the country to become a leading
exporter of electrical appliances, electronic parts and components.
5.0 Result

Malaysia’s foreign policy is largely influenced and shaped by three key factors, namely its
strategic location in Southeast Asia, its attributes as a trading nation as well as its unique
demography. While the foreign policy approaches may have differed over the years due to
changing domestic and external factors, the basic principles of the policy have continued
since independence. Policy-making has been guided by the criteria of credibility together
with consistency and coherency, which have served the country’s best interests.

6.0 Discussion

1.0 What do you know about Malaysia's history?

Interesting question…! The history of Malaysia began with the Malacca Sultanate around
1400 AD. Between 1511 and 1945, Malaysia entered the colonial era, Malayan Union was
established in 1946 by the British administration but following opposition by the ethnic
Malays, the union was reorganized as the Federation of Malaya in 1948 as a protectorate state
until 1957

2.0 Do you have an idea when was Malaysia established?

Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become
Malaysia.

3.0 What do you know about the relation between Malaysia and Singapore?
In 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation to become an independent and sovereign
state. The separation was the result of political and economic differences.

4.0 When did Malaysia join the United Nations?

Malaysia became the 82nd member of the United Nations on 17 September 1957 (when it
was then known as the Federation of Malaya)

5.0 What contribution has Malaysia made since joining the United Nations?
In October 1960, Malaysia deployed its first contingent of 3,500 Malay Special Forces of
the Malayan Armed Forces to the United Nations Operation in Congo (ONUC). The
deployment of Malaysia’s military and police personnel in various UN Peacekeeping
Operations is a manifestation of Malaysia’s strong commitment to shared responsibilities
towards the early and peaceful resolution of conflicts. Malaysia through the Malaysian
Peacekeeping Centre (MPC) is committed to provide training and capacity building on multi-
dimensional peacekeeping for international military, police and civilian personnel who will
be embarking on UN peacekeeping missions in conflict areas around the world.

6.0 What do you know about Malaysia's foreign policy?

Malaysia continues to pursue an independent, principled and pragmatic foreign policy,
founded on the values of peace, humanity, justice, and equality. The overarching thrust of its
foreign policy has been to safeguard Malaysia’s sovereignty and national interests as well as
to contribute meaningfully towards a just and equitable community of nations through the
conduct of effective diplomacy.

7.0 Finally, what do you wish for Malaysia?

I hope that the People of Malaysia will work together towards the 2021 Vision, and that the
country's stability and progress will lead the people towards a better future.
7.0 Conclusion

The Malaysia Foreign Policy is an initiative for every government to articulate its foreign
policy emphasis and direction. It does not mean that this administration is making an
overhaul change to Malaysia’s foreign policy. This cannot be the case because Malaysia’s
broad national interests remain largely the same. However, the Malaysia will adopt some
changes in approach and priorities, which will translate into certain changes in policy
direction. In terms of approach, the New Malaysia under the PH administration aspires to
play a proactive role and provide leadership in championing certain issues of interests. In
terms of emphasis, the New Malaysia will prioritise issues of inequality, fairness and justice,
as well as democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law. These principles will act as
important guides to the direction of the Malaysia’s foreign policy.

The international arena, where foreign policy execution takes place, is a highly complex
system. Recent global trends indicate an increasingly challenging international environment,
in which Malaysia’s foreign policy actors have to operate. It is thus vital that the country
strengthens its foreign policy machinery through better inter-agency collaboration and
capacity building in human and other resource.

Reference

1. Mohamad, YAB Tun Dr Mahathir. FOREIGN POLICY FRAMEWORK OF THE NEW MALAYSIA.
Putrajaya : Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, 2019. ps://www.kln.gov.my/web/guest/foreign-
policy.

https://www.kln.gov.my/foreign-policy-
framework/files/assets/common/downloads/Foreign%20Policy%20Framework.pdf