NOVEMBER 13 — I speak in at least one Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute event per year, but it’s usually held in an Asean country rather than in London. But like many Malaysians, I feel more at home in London than I do in other Asean capitals.

The Malaysia-United Kingdom relationship is already exceptionally deep, and it rests on a foundation of people-to-people relationships cemented over decades through Malaysians getting their education and working there.

The bilateral relationship has played a vital part in the shaping of our national institutions, too. The immediate post-Merdeka generation exuded a powerful sense of patriotic optimism and dedicated themselves to vocations that would also be of service to the nation.

Their legacy has set the benchmark against which their successors are judged, and give a reference point to a time when meritocracy, integrity and the rule of law inspired confidence in our public institutions. These principles were often transmitted through centres of learning that were modelled on the British style.

The ultimate institutional inspiration of the British expressed itself in our political system. Our federal constitutional monarchy with parliamentary democracy married the Malay-Muslim and Anglo-Saxon narratives of governance, and our first prime minister and first Yang di-Pertuan Agong embodied this symbiosis par excellence.

This is shown in the way in which Tuanku Abdul Rahman described democracy and our Constitution in his addresses to Parliament, while Tunku Abdul Rahman placed the rule of law at the heart of not only his premiership, but also in how he ran the political party of which he was president. This attitude extended into his economic policy as well, opposing the nationalising of certain sectors and government interference in the economy.

This is relevant to us today because there is a perception that the demarcation between politics and business is blurred, that policies are formulated to further only some business interests — often racially defined — and even that the ultimate aim of economic policy is to perpetuate political power.

At the same time, there are other efforts that suggest we are coming full circle. Proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Asean Economic Community and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership commend the reduction of protectionist measures, the further eradication of non-tariff barriers and the freer movement of skilled labour.

Of course, in all, there is debate about certain sectors and on affordable medicines, intellectual property rights, rules of origin and investor state dispute settlement mechanisms — but this is healthy.

Here, our foundation principles can guide us, as we chase growth figures and economic rankings, we ought to consider not just political pragmatism. Effective political leadership is a key element in transforming the business and investment climate, and recently in Oxford, I recalled the efforts of Sir Robert Peel, William Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher, who did much to interpret and apply the ideas of free trade.

Speaking of prime ministers, it is worth noting that only Conservative prime ministers have visited Malaysia, with David Cameron already having visited twice.

These visits have generated excitement that we are in some golden age, but as I said at the beginning, the strength of this relationship rests on interactions on the ground. This forms a strong constituency of people who look upon the political relationship with great interest.

They will not like opaquely negotiated deals secured primarily through political patron-client relationships. They will not like heads of government colluding with each other for uncertain geopolitical ends.

It might be foolish to suggest that foreign policy can be conducted on moral grounds. But the Tunku famously said that “Malaya and Britain will always be friends.”

Friendship is essentially a moral cement. It is the duty of friends to point out when the other is going astray and to remind the other that they share common values and can realise them together. In geopolitical terms to Britain, Malaysia is not China or India or Iran, so this relationship can be more honest and robust.

But at the end of the day, underlying all our bilateral relationships are the values and principles that we extol domestically. As the Global Movement of Moderates former chief executive officer has opined, we cannot promote moderation abroad unless we are moderate at home.

Let us not forget the roles and duties of the institutions that were set up by the constitution to deliver those freedom. They were in many ways born from the bilateral relationship and they should continue to guide us as the bilateral relationship grows deeper.

* Tunku ‘Abidin Muhriz is founding president of Ideas.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.