Anticipating Malaysia’s Asean chair

Among Asean watchers, it has become a pattern that a significant milestone follows whenever Malaysia takes on the chairmanship. In 2005, Malaysia helped establish the East Asia Summit (EAS), and in 2015, the Asean Community Vision 2025 was launched. Many policymakers and scholars agree that the next chairmanship is perfectly timed for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, one of the region’s most experienced leaders.
To showcase Malaysia, the chair revealed its logo and theme of “Inclusivity and Sustainability”. The colourful logo depicts the country’s national flower, the bunga raya. The inward-curving design symbolises the strength of Asean centrality and unity.
Malaysia faces numerous formidable challenges. The chair must fine-tune the right approach to increasing intra-Asean cooperation in all pillars and strengthening relations with dialogue partners, especially China and the US. It will also be a landmark year as Malaysia launches the new Asean Community Vision 2045, which will chart the Asean strategic pathway in the next twenty years.
Furthermore, Asean is expected to welcome Timor-Leste as its 11th member. The chair will also broaden the engagement between Asean and other developing economies in the Global South, including the Gulf Cooperation Council and Brics.
At the Brics summit in Kazan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia were made Brics partners.
At the 46th Asean Summit scheduled for May 5-7, 2025, the Asean leaders will adopt the 1,830-word Asean Community Vision 2045. This ambitious document addresses a wide range of issues and scenarios.
The vision was based on input from the bloc’s top bureaucrats and thinkers who understand Asean. These experts have also outlined strategic plans across the three pillars, connectivity, and improvement of the Asean Secretariat to ensure its future success. The Vision 2045 document is the product of extensive consultation involving both top-down and bottom-up processes, including input from civil society and the private sector.
The Asean Community Vision 2045 is a forward-looking blueprint that seeks to position Asean as a dynamic, resilient, innovative and people-centric regional organisation. Future-ready Asean will be nimble and agile. It emphasises sustainability, economic integration, human capital development, and technological innovation as future pillars.
Most importantly, the vision recognises the changing global order, especially the shift towards multipolarity.
In recent months, Mr Anwar has not held back when speaking about key regional and global issues, including the Myanmar quagmire, the South China Sea dispute, the current Middle East crisis, and the ongoing US-China rivalry. His frank comments on these issues have been unusual among his Asean colleagues.
Well before the recent chairmanship handover from Laos to Malaysia, Mr Anwar made it clear that Asean, under his leadership, would be an active player, aiming to raise the bloc’s profile and relevance on the global stage.
Mr Anwar’s outspoken stance on the Middle East crisis has particularly gained attention. Following the escalation of violence in Gaza, Mr Anwar condemned the large-scale civilian casualties and emphasised the need for immediate humanitarian assistance. He has called for a ceasefire and urged the US to take a more balanced approach to the conflict.
Reaffirming Asean’s position on the Palestinian problem, he advocated a two-state solution that respects the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. Mr Anwar’s comments on the Middle East crisis reflect his broader foreign policy approach, which emphasises moral clarity and the pursuit of peace. He has also urged Asean members to stay united despite growing global tensions. Asean must be a stabilising force in the region.
As Asean chair, Mr Anwar is expected to find innovative diplomatic approaches to balance the two competing superpowers — the US and China. The former is the region’s main security guarantor, and the latter is its most important economic partner. He frequently stressed the importance of the bloc’s strategic autonomy and that its members must not be drawn into the superpowers’ polarisation.
“Anwar is an old hand. He knows the geopolitical contours of the day,” commented Phar Kim Beng, a Malaysian scholar on international affairs.
Malaysia is also eager to expand Asean and admit Timor-Leste. The debate is no longer about whether the world’s youngest democracy is ready to join Asean but whether it should be left behind — waiting for the full implementation of the Asean-proposed roadmap. In Vientiane, some Asean leaders sympathised with Dilli, arguing that if strict conditions remain, the country might take several years to join the Asean family.
As a result, there were talks about “discounts” on the 220 economic agreements Timor-Leste must accede to. Before joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the end of August, Timor-Leste submitted a note to the Asean Secretariat showing its readiness to meet 66 key agreements after the admission. The remaining agreements will be implemented within six to eight years. A compromise number of agreements must be agreed upon.
When Malaysia holds its first foreign ministerial retreat in January 2025 in Langkawi to discuss and set forth the Asean agenda, they must indicate if Timor-Leste will become a full member by that year. As one seasoned Asean diplomat put it, its membership is at a “now or never” crossroads.
For the past decade, the focus has been zeroed in on Timor-Leste’s preparedness to participate in Asean’s three pillars: political/security, economic, and socio/cultural. Various Asean members and experts have visited the country in the past two years, preparing the roadmap for its membership.
The Asean leaders face a Catch-22 situation. Joining Asean in the post-pandemic era, Timor-Leste could complicate the bloc’s economic integration and other decision-making processes. Dili also lacks the human resources necessary to participate in Asean’s extensive meetings, which are almost on par with the United Nations in terms of frequency.
On the other hand, leaving Timor-Leste behind the Asean family could open the door for external powers to exert influence over the country, especially given its rich energy resources and substantial oil reserves. Truth be told, the time has come for Asean leaders to make a political decision on whether to welcome Timor-Leste into the group.
During the chairmanship handover ceremony on Oct 9, Mr Anwar announced that Malaysia will host the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council plus China Summit. This summit is one of the flagship events under his leadership. It will certainly have significant global impacts due to the bloc’s role in bridging the Gulf States and China.
Last week in Kazan, Malaysia became one of 12 Brics partners, which included three other Asean members — Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. As such, under the Malaysian chair, Asean’s ability to promote communication, dialogue and cooperation with emerging economies, big and small, points to its ability to serve as a bridge between key global players, including G20, further ramping up Asean relevance.
To do that, the East Asia Summit (EAS), which will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, needs fresh ideas to bolster its role as the world’s top strategic forum. The latest EAS meeting showed cracks among its members, especially the eight dialogue partners, which could threaten Asean unity. If this trend continues, the future of EAS could be in jeopardy. It can weaken this strategic platform. The Jakarta-based EAS envoys accredited to Asean should have more dialogue in shepherding the EAS summit and deliverables.
Mr Anwar’s experience and direct approach, especially on contentious global issues, suggest that Asean, under Malaysia’s chairmanship, could see more assertive diplomacy and a greater focus on ensuring the bloc’s long-term relevance. One caveat is in order, granted all favourite circumstances — the chair must still be modest.