KL’S SUCCESS IN FOREIGN POLICY
SINCE assuming office in 2009, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib has shown a keen interest in foreign policy. We can evaluate Najib’s success in foreign policy using the Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), a technique used in strategic planning and futures studies to effectively shape the future
In CLA, four levels of reality can be identified: headlines; social causes, or reasons why something has happened and who are involved; worldview, or what we can imagine the world is going to be; and, lastly, myth and metaphor, or intrinsic aspects of values and beliefs held by people and nations.
From headlines over the last few years, the following may have interested Najib: the retreat of the United States and its branding; the Russians are coming; the decline and fall of Europe; the rise of China and its branding; oil dependency; and terrorism.
He might have to pick and integrate the narratives of the day to understand why certain countries behave in a certain way.
From a study of Malaysia’s foreign policy over the past few years, there are five cluster sets of countries that would have interested Najib.
These include the United States, China, Asean, India and Saudi Arabia.
For social causes and worldviews, he would have to select the following: with Asean countries, the facts of geography, history, economics and regional logic; with the United States and China, the results of the type of nation branding in use and its effectiveness; with China and Asean, the arc of history; with India and China, that of strategic partnership; with Saudi Arabia, the ummah’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at a Russia-Asean summit in 2016. Malaysia is set to welcome more countries to look at it as a gateway to the east.
unity; and with India and Saudi Arabia, their policies of Looking East.
Having categorised the country issues and recognising the factors behind each of the issues that surfaced this year, the country rolled out the red carpet to welcome Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
When Najib visited India, there were high expectations on both sides that this signalled a new
beginning founded on the Look East Policy started by India two decades ago.
In the case of moving closer to China, Najib sought to pitch the relations on history and to capitalise on the rise of China to fill the void left by the US.
China has moved in by increasing its investments in development infrastructure, leading to Jack Ma bringing Alibaba to Malaysia.
Asean will represent a bigger
challenge for Malaysia’s foreign policy. The Asean Community will need to harmonise more, and member countries must prepare for changes.
Looking at the future and riding on the successes of the country’s foreign policy, Malaysia is set to welcome more countries to look at it as a gateway to the east.