Malaysian PM Anwar says ASEAN needs to move from rhetoric to concrete action

Anwar rejected suggestions that Malaysia was “taking sides” in the Sino-US tensions, as Malaysia has been concerned about the US and Western reluctance to put pressure on Israel in the Gaza war.

“This is not only an oversimplification but also a gross misunderstanding of our national interests and character.” He said, adding that Malaysia is fiercely independent and will continue to fight for its national and strategic interests.

The Malaysian prime minister also reiterated his call for a comprehensive reform and expansion of the UN Security Council to ensure fair regional representation and reflect “current realities”.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – are all from the so-called “global North”, as opposed to the “global South”, which typically represents developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This distinction has traditionally been made by grouping countries based on their socio-economic and political defining characteristics.

For example, most countries in the Global South are generally considered to have lower living standards, with lower incomes and higher poverty rates.

Anwar said on Thursday that the divide between the global North and the global South is no longer a matter of development but rather one of clear ideology, experience and perception.

“In the struggle for inclusion, it represents regaining a voice that cannot be ignored in the international order. We see this in the urgent calls for the restructuring of the United Nations.”

What Malaysia can do with ASEAN

Associate Professor Zhang Jiayi, an international relations researcher at the National University of Singapore, said many of ASEAN’s mechanisms were developed in the 1990s to early 2000s, when people expected ASEAN to play a greater role in promoting regional stability, including confidence-building and preventive diplomacy.

“So far, their use has been very limited, with the focus on Asean convening meetings rather than taking larger initiatives,” he told CNA.

For example, the ASEAN Regional Forum currently has 27 participants, including ASEAN member states as well as the United States, China, Russia, the European Union, South Korea and North Korea.

The Forum was established in 1994 with the aim of becoming an effective Asia-Pacific consultative platform to promote open dialogue on political and security cooperation in the region.