Malaysia's missed opportunities at the UN

Malaysia’s participation in the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly, while laden with high hopes and expectations on the returns on the country’s economic and soft power revival, remains a missed opportunity for a bigger showcase of the country’s global return in role, impact and influence.

The UN is divided, and the world remains split at the economic, ideological and security perspectives.

It also remains fractured and fast becoming obsolete because of the impasse at its Security Council and the toothless and non-binding UN General Assembly.

The so-called rise of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and Global South led by different factions wanting to display greater influence and dominance has further created incentivisation of power bandwagoning.

From Lula da Silva of Brazil to Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, the tussle for the bloc leadership of challenging the Western hemisphere has further eroded the efficacy and dividends of the multilateral global mechanisms.

As UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has pointed out in his address, the increasing divide and tussle for global power and dominance, one that is shaped by the North-South and East-West divide, and the division between economic power bloc and security power bloc, remains the ultimate challenge to the sustainable assurance of peace returns.

Malaysia faces a critical crossroads in its foreign policy and global standing ventures, and the litmus test now beckons as to how effective and reliable our ingrained focus on neutrality and non-alignment mantra is in facing the renewed power rivalry and its aftermath.

Recent policy approaches have indicated yet the consistent alignment of closer ties with regional and traditional partners and institutions.

The question remains whether the country will continue to hedge its bet on the Global South, Asean and the rise of middle powers and capitalising on the best of both worlds in its neutral model, or project long-term assurance with a proven values-based approach and normative framework espoused by the West.

Reluctance to escape past dogma

On one hand, Malaysia is trying to play its cards well in getting the best out of the bipolar rivalry and bloc divide between the Beijing-led East/South and Washington-led West/North, but the strategy seems to have lost its lustre with backfiring implications.

Increased pandering and overtures to the perceived growing momentum of the South and greater support of the de-dollarisation movement resulted in deeper reliance on Beijing-led capital market and infrastructure.

Malaysia is now caught in the middle of a big transition and once-in-a-century geopolitical shift, and how we position ourselves is critical in shaping regional power and economic tussle, and in ensuring our own future economic resilience and security returns.

Are we confined to our leadership and voice in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Asean, to name a few, and the bandwagon with the so-called rise of the middle powers and the multilateral approach in the perceived multi-polarity of power?

That seems to be the direction of our foreign policy and this needs a careful trajectory and wise reawakening on our part, with proper cost-benefit calculations and long-term strategic considerations.

Malaysia’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during the address is a breath of fresh air. Although this condemnation is welcomed, the West realises that there will not be major changes in Malaysia’s orientation, as Malaysia is still reliant on Asean as a collective voice and support and continues to rely on Russia for a number of supportive fields, and Asean’s stance on the Ukraine issue has been disappointing.

By initiating a meeting with Iran and Iraq and with ever closer ties with Turkiye in all fields, especially new potential defence cooperation, Malaysia is seen to send a message to both the West and China and the Global South.

To the West, it implies that Malaysia still has different fallback options in security and defence support, not seeing West as the only reliable source of a security umbrella. This gives more options for Malaysia to have better chips and cards in dealing with both China and the West.

To China, it also implies that Malaysia still has considerable external deterrence and security support apparatus and bulwark, apart from the predominantly Western security domain.

The UN General Assembly sees the normalisation of the trend for recurring issues of maintaining peace, the demand of developing states to be seen as equal and the push for more equality in terms of treatment and fairness in international trade and financial system, singling out the West as the main root cause of this economic and security imbalance.

Malaysia’s position on common progressive values, fairness, social justice and continuing the neutral stance in pushing for joint cooperation in regional and global prosperity has been well known.

Reimagining soft power

The theme for this year's General Debate is “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity” with a focus on the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Malaysia has been a leading proponent for most of the SDG, including green and digital economy, climate responsibilities, poverty eradication and socio-economic goals.

Malaysia needs to reorient its position on how best to elevate its standing and use our future growth indicators and strategic advantage with our bargaining chips and cards in our critical resources, especially palm oil, rare earths, semiconductors and other geographical advantages as greater chips and cards.

However, despite the various reiterations of Malaysia’s stance and approach and in elevating our global credentials, it remains a missed opportunity to tackle the crux of the dilemma and present a clear, consistent and bold reform and transformation of the country’s future-driven ambition.

A major part of this remains the need to reform the country’s soft-power image and presence, especially in correcting the past tainted image of systemic and structural negative implications and causes of bad governance.

People-to-people understanding and appreciation of the country’s true offerings in all fields have been lacking and areas of low politics that will create spillover and sustained impact will need a total transformation.

In areas of high politics, it remains imperative that Malaysia be seen not just from the prism of institutional and balancing power trap.

We cannot afford to remain under the architecture of regional institutions, the inevitability of a powerful neighbouring economic and security force, and the ingrained role of being the balancer in power play and rivalry, and being confined to the voice and role as a middle or small power and the bandwagon of a multilateral reawakened Global South that is opposing of the traditionally Western-led system of trade and peace assurance.

How we choose our next approach depends on how we balance our interests in the economic and security realm amidst the new intense power competition in all spheres.

It also depends on whether we have the conviction of faith and audacity in breaking free from our conventional and entrenched policy traps of the past, and in impartially facing the reality of the future.

One of the future scenarios includes a setting where the current liberal global order of rules-based mechanism and the Western-led normative values will stand the test of growing autocratic practices and threats to the stable peace that have safeguarded the UN Charter and ties among nations.

This is where our actions now in clearly supporting this decades-old order in a direct and bold manner will determine our future legacy and progress.

Democracy vs autocracy

Minilateralism is being railed against and the US has been called out for pursuing a bloc mentality and a minilateral and direct approach with targeted countries instead of true multilateral engagement.

Direct bilateral and minilateral approach is taking ground with growing importance simply because the impact and efficacy of a multilateral platform have been dwindling for years.

Asean and the UN remain the prime examples of how and why a multilateral platform has been dominated by certain powers or been trapped by an endemic perspective and policy affiliation.

Multilateralism and certain regional and global institutions have long remained benign, ineffective and a symbol of a toothless tiger that has failed to adequately uphold the very core principles and tenets they have been founded upon, being beholden to conventional dogma and influence-seeking activities of other powers.

They often lack the audacity to be bold, direct, consistent and unwavering in their adherence to systemic values and principles, often succumbing to external pressures and diktats.

US President Joe Biden has urged the world to stand up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during his speech at the UN General Assembly and has consistently raised the urgency of the fate of democracy and freedom against the onslaught of oppression, autocracy and the mantra of might is right. 

How might Malaysia, as a participant, navigate its stance on this critical issue, especially considering its potential impact on global security?

This remains the ultimate call for a bold adherence to justice, freedom, and rights of all players to play by the same set of rules, and for a just, equal and peaceful global order.

Peace and freedom come at a price and commitment, and the sacrifice that one makes must be the unwavering audacity in defending the core tenets of equal respect for the law and norms as enshrined under the UN Charter, and unyieldingly and staunchly defend and align with the striving for rule of law, freedom and rights of all nations and the people.

We are restrained by our affiliation with the other side of the argument on the need to be careful and to remain balanced, thus refraining from instigating or prolonging tensions and taking a clear side.

Narratives have been tried to be expanded both by Russia and other powers that Moscow is being provoked or dragged into conflict by the enticement and provocation of Nato and the US-led system. This has been portrayed as the reality on the ground, projecting a greater Global South buy-in.

If the land-grabbing and invasions are allowed, as Biden has reiterated, this will not stop at Ukraine. It will be a precedent for all other players that use the might-is-right approach and hard-power intimidation, and the strategy of playing the victim card in justifying future moves.

This will put all nations, especially small and middle powers, in danger, as they do not have the capacity to defend themselves.

Now, we are being very careful with our diplomatic nuances and wordings so as not to offend any party - including China, which is our economic lifeline, and Russia. In the long run, this will backfire on our economic and security assurances.

Malaysia needs to be direct, bold and unapologetic in standing up for the enshrined tenets of the UN Charter.

Wise and bold new positioning

America and the West have always been projected to decline, and the argument that it is now the dawn of the Asian and Chinese centuries has been the central narrative.

However, future trends and statistics show otherwise. They indicate that the resilience of the Western economy and the continuous security and military superiority will endure, but these are being drowned out by this ingrained new narrative of the rise and future dominance of the Asian Century.

For us to be influential and to regain our new standing, we need to have consistency and conviction in our stance.

The Global South leadership will be contested among the small circle of elites including Brazil, China, Russia, Turkiye and Middle Eastern states.

In the OIC, rising powers including Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye will be leading the new drive of influence.

We are now trapped by the dogma of our position in finding our way either in regional organisations like Asean or to continue to reclimb our position in bigger multilateral platforms that are now a free-for-all arena for power and muscle flexing.

Growing internal tussle in the Global South and the East in using these platforms to leverage against Western dominance and in challenging the conventional global system has also been a growing risk to the states and remains a future threat to the rules-based order.

How we face these new turbulences remains a critical factor and the common-sense approach is to be wary of any passionate jumping onto the bandwagon of perceived new trends and power shifts.

Malaysia has been known for its rising influence in areas of low politics, including cooperation in the environment, socio-economic issues, common development and progressive humanitarian uplifting.

As the next decade and century are shaped by hard power and high politics on security and power assurance, it remains imperative for the country to have a clear and consistent stance on this sphere, particularly on the rule of law, rules-based order, human rights and freedom, and the sanctity of democracy and rights of all nations in respecting international norms and rules.

Apart from having a resolute stance in the international order and areas of high politics, our soft-power credentials will need further improvements, expanding on our cultural and low politics elements in projecting further awareness and appreciation of our regional and global trust, understanding and presence.

Greater economic role and presence can also be achieved by linking Asean with other regional entities in the Global South in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America in order to deepen economic and people ties remain strategic and future-reassuring.

Building understanding and connecting bridges in digitalisation and education and mobility of talent, knowledge, and skills training programmes in new sectors - especially green and digital economy - remain the areas where Malaysia is at a position of strength.

We remain a sought-after nation by rival powers due to our growing strength and advantages in food and energy security, critical resources including rare earths, chips industry and semiconductors, role in supply chain resilience and geostrategic offers.

These must be utilised well to strengthen our chips and cards, to secure our future global positioning and security and economic returns.

For that, our future foreign policy orientation must be wise, direct, bold, and unwavering in our conviction with the decades of established global system of values-based approach in security and economic moulding, one which is pillared on a normative rules-based order and the espousing of equality, respect for international law, enshrined national rights and freedom and democracy of humanity, and good governance.

This bulwark remains of utmost importance against the new tide of rising authoritative tendencies in challenging this entrenched global norm that has safeguarded world peace and economic progress. - Mkini

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COLLINS CHONG is a Universiti Malaya foreign affairs and security strategist.

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