Importance of a Malaysian envoy to the US

Malaysia’s Ambassador to the United States since February 2023 and former Umno minister, Nazri Abdul Aziz, has been criticised on social media for appearing at a rally held by US President Donald Trump in Washington DC holding a sign “Make America Great Again”. This was first reported by The Rakyat Post.

While Nazri has been rightly criticised for his actions (one does not have to support the policies or political slogans of the leader of the country one is ambassador to), there are much more serious matters which we need to pay attention to with regard to Malaysia’s foreign policy and diplomatic engagement with the US.

The most obvious “fail” by Nazri is not holding up the Maga sign but his inability to arrange for a phone call between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Trump after the latter won the US presidential election in November 2024.

The leaders from our neighbouring countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore, all had calls with Trump before his inauguration on Jan 20, 2025. These calls are important “signals” in the diplomatic community as they indicate a country’s ability to reach out to the then-soon-to-be most powerful person in the world.

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This fact would not have gone unnoticed by Anwar and his team given that it is well known that public optics are prioritised by the prime minister and his office.

Even after Trump’s inauguration, Malaysia has not managed to leverage our position as the chair of Asean to get a call between Anwar and Trump.

Ambassador’s role

The role of ambassador to the United States has never been more important than before given the magnitude and volume of presidential announcements and executive orders under the second Trump presidency.

The ambassador must engage and communicate, both formally and, more importantly, informally, through lunches, dinners, coffees, and other meetings with US cabinet ministers and congressional heavyweights.

The ambassador has to coordinate his team of officers at the embassy to engage with the relevant staff members of US cabinet ministers and important congressional representatives who sit on the relevant congressional committees in the Senate and in the House.

The ambassador has to position Malaysia via public and private talks organised by influential think tanks and lobby groups in Washington DC. It would also help project Malaysia’s image via the ambassador’s social media engagements. (Nazri does not have his own Instagram account and his X account does not have any posts and has not been updated in a few years).

Replacement incoming?

There are indications that Nazri will be replaced as Malaysia’s ambassador to the US in the near future. His replacement should have the following qualities:

(i) Direct access to Anwar to communicate important information on the bilateral relationship and to provide recommendations to the prime minister on how best to engage with Trump, his cabinet, and Congress;

(ii) Access to and is known to key Malaysian cabinet members (finance, trade and industry, transportation, foreign, energy) to recommend strategic policy positions; and

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(iii) Ability to engage publicly and privately with key stakeholders in the US power structure (including positioning via social media).

Prominent individuals who fulfil the above criteria include:

• Mohd Faiz Abdullah, chairperson of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia who is providing important inputs on foreign policy to the prime minister including in his speeches overseas.

• Nurul Izzah Anwar, the prime minister’s daughter and key aide, and a former MP.

• Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, the current investment, trade, and industry minister, whose senatorship expires at the end of 2025, has proven himself to be a trusted minister to the PM and more than capable of diplomatic and economic engagements.

• Yusmadi Yusoff, a long-time PKR leader and member of Anwar’s inner circle and former MP and senator.

• Nazir Razak, the former CIMB chairperson, is a well-known corporate figure and is familiar with many of the politicians in the Malaysian cabinet.

US President Donald Trump

We cannot afford to sit on our hands and wait for the current ambassador to be replaced (which may take up to six months or more). We should send a high-ranking minister – the foreign minister; the investment, trade and investment minister, or one of the two deputy prime ministers – to Washington DC to send a personal invitation from Anwar to Trump to attend the Asean summit in Malaysia at the end of the year.

Whether or not Trump attends is a separate story. The signal that such a visit and such an invitation will send to Trump and the White House, and to the international community, would be important in of itself.

During this visit, other high-level engagements with members of Trump’s cabinet and senior officers in the White House should also be arranged, using our leverage as the chair of Asean and demonstrating our leadership in engaging with the US. - Mkini

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ONG KIAN MING is former Bangi MP and former deputy international trade and industries minister.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.