Author: Kuik Cheng-Chwee
Published: 11 February 2026
ISEAS Perspective 2026/11
Malaysia’s Ministry of Defence launched a Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the 2019 Defence White Paper (DWP) in September 2025. The MTR reassesses the changing security environment, reinforces the key strategies of the DWP, and reaffirms the government’s commitment to defending Malaysian security and sovereign interests.
The MTR reflects Malaysia’s changing threat perceptions, particularly concerning cyber insecurity and tensions in the South China Sea. Without naming any country explicitly, the document’s depiction of maritime tensions is much more direct and stronger in tone than the DWP’s, linking the growing regional risks largely to the “aggressive stance” and “rapid increase in military capability of a country that claimed almost the entire South China Sea”.
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