3 - Malaysian Foreign Policy and the Five Power Defence Arrangements

Summary

The paper examines the role of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) in regional security from the perspective of Malaysia. It begins with a framing of Malaysia's defence posture and needs in terms of a transition from conventional defence in the 1950s and 1960s to a security- oriented discourse since the mid-1970s. That transition took place when the Anglo-Malayan Defence Agreement (AMDA) of 1957 was replaced by the FPDA in 1971. Malaysia's non-participation in the South-East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and its insistence that the nuclear weapons option be excluded from AMDA had provided an important context for Malaysia's overall stance on defence and security even during the early years of independence. By the mid-1970s, Malaysia's foreign policy was cast in terms of neutralism and nonalignment. It had found cause in the promotion of a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) in Southeast Asia and saw an active participation in the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ). Some may argue that Malaysia's participation in the FPDA compromised such a foreign policy. However, seen from the perspective of regional security, the FPDA was an important construct and confidence building measure (CBM) for the continued involvement of Commonwealth forces in Malaysia's defence and role in regional security. Moreover, the FPDA was especially crucial as a CBM for boosting and maintaining security cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore. Military exercises under FPDA up until today continue to provide for a practicable regional security instrumentality for two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, Malaysia and Singapore. By the same token, the FPDA is thereby considered to be “exclusivist” as it does not encompass all members ASEAN. However, the fact that ASEAN has had no appetite for regional military arrangements of its own has meant historic constructs like the FPDA have remained in place. That said, even the long-standing FPDA has from time to time suffered from the vicissitudes of low activity or economic constraints, and Malaysia has been in large part responsible for this.