DEFENCE DIPLOMACY AS STATECRAFT: PROJECTING MALAYSIA’S MIDDLE POWER IN THE POST COLD WAR ERA

Main Article Content

Mohd Ikbal Mohd Huda, Mohd Nazrif Bin Mohd Nor

Abstract

As a nation-state that is situated at the heart of Maritime Southeast Asia, Malaysia is aware of its long historical presence in the region and the manner in which the polities of Southeast Asia have survived and succeeded by hedging and balancing themselves vis-à-vis the more powerful polities outside the region (Mahbubani, 2018). Aiming to address Malaysia’s position in the light of the growing contestation between  the great powers of the world, this article argues that Defence diplomacy – understood  here in terms of the peaceful deployment of military personnel, capabilities and  resources – will play an increasingly important role as a means of both projecting  Malaysia’s Middle-Power status and as a tool of bilateral/multilateral bridge-building in  the ASEAN region and beyond to protect its national interest in the uncertainties and  high stakes of major power competition era. Divided into three main section plus conclusion, the first section of this article presents a conceptual discussion of defence diplomacy, meanwhile the next section explain the role of defence diplomacy as soft power in in projecting attractive image in international stage and followed by third section that explains Malaysia defence diplomacy approaches bilaterally/multilaterally and analyses its capacity in projecting Malaysa’s middle power. Last but not least, the article concludes the main argument.

Article Details

Section
Articles