Malaysia’s Chairmanship of ASEAN and Anwar Ibrahim’s Foreign Policy

P25103

Author: David Han Guo Xiong

Published: 05 November 2025

 

The 47th ASEAN Summit, held in Kuala Lumpur from 25 to 28 October 2025, marks the culmination of Malaysia’s one-year chairmanship of ASEAN. The Anwar Ibrahim administration had put in considerable effort in hosting an eventful summit with its relevant meetings to promote multilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues. US President Donald Trump’s presence heightened the positive atmosphere emanating from the summit.

Undoubtedly, through the summit, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has elevated Malaysia’s international standing and advanced regional collaboration. Notably, he has improved the optics of Malaysia-US relations. Yet, such accomplishments cannot hide limitations in Anwar’s policy in addressing key security challenges in the region.

 

For full article, please open the link:

https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/idss/ip25103-malaysias-chairmanship-of-asean-and-anwar-ibrahims-foreign-policy/

 

The article was published by RISIS.

The Romanian Institute for Europe-Asia Studies (IRSEA) and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), NTU have agreed to enter into an informal agreement on republishing their studies and analysis.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or view of IRSEA.