KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Malaysia has played an active role in fostering peace as the current chairman of Asean by bringing Thailand and Cambodia to the negotiation table over a border dispute that turned lethal, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
He added that the two countries have now agreed to sign a peace pact at the Asean Summit this weekend, with the ceremony set to be witnessed by US President Donald Trump, alongside other world leaders.
“We were successful in helping solve the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand.
“Just recently, the defence ministers of both countries finalised the detailed terms of the peace agreement, and if agreed upon, the signing will be witnessed by Trump, who also supports this resolution, as well as myself,” Anwar said in Parliament.
Malaysia was also behind Myanmar’s military junta agreement to halt fighting and allow humanitarian aid amid a civil war, Anwar said, noting that Myanmar had suffered one of its worst earthquakes in March this year.
Malaysia’s chairmanship of the ten-bloc platform this year saw the emergence of what Anwar described as “Asean Centrality”, a concept that stresses greater cooperation on the belief that member states must put the region’s interests first above all else, even as they are allowed to engage with the world’s superpowers.
Anwar told Parliament today the term centrality was chosen over the word neutrality as Malaysia pushes for more “constructive engagement” between member states on regional issues, particularly trade and security.
Asean Centrality, he added, can be envisioned as a concept that encourages South-east Asian nations to engage in more dialogue even on issues that were once deemed sensitive.
“Even before, (our chairmanship) didn’t really talk about neutrality. Hence, we changed it to the nomenclature of centrality. When we say neutral, it’s as if we don’t want to say anything at all. Centrality means we continue to interact and can put effort (to solve interstate problems),” Anwar explained.
“Hence, on the issue of Myanmar, I had asked our colleagues in Asean for permission to give me space to discuss with Myanmar’s leaders. This was not done before, at least not with the unanimous backing of Asean members,” the prime minister added.
The 47th Asean Summit will take place in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28, bringing together heads of state from the 10 Asean member countries and Timor-Leste — which is on track to become the bloc’s 11th member — along with other dialogue partners including the US, China, Brazil, Japan and Canada.
Before the announcement on Tuesday, it was unclear whether the US president would attend this year’s summit.
Trump was similarly non-committal about whether he will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in South Korea the following weekend.
US news outlet Politico reported last week that Trump’s participation at Asean was contingent on whether the bloc would hold an official ceasefire ceremony with him leading the event.
