Nation’s foreign policy should be a bipartisan matter

THE article by Mergawati Zulfakar headlined “Foreign policy needs more fiscal bite” (The Star, Sept 21; online at bit.ly/star_policy) prompted me to find and read Wisma Putra’s “Foreign Policy Framework Of The New Malaysia – Change In Continuity” report.

Having served the government of Malaysia some 45 years, at all times in the realm of international affairs, I am very happy to note that the foreign policy framework of the new government is not promising to make any drastic changes to the way Malaysia conducts its international relations.

In the past, pragmatism and non-alignment have served the country well in doing business at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, especially since the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and the establishment of Asean in 1967. The framework reiterates these cardinal principles espoused by Malaysia all these years.

In this connection, I consider most pertinent the message from the current secretary-general at Wisma Putra when he wrote in the framework that, “Wisma Putra needs to be strengthened. This not only relates to its human resources capability but includes all kinds of resources that the Ministry requires to carry out its functions and programmes effectively”.

No country can play any effective role in international affairs unless it has the necessary man/ woman power and financial resources.

The Malaysian overseas diplomatic network (high commissions, embassies, consulates), I have been made to believe, now operates in survival mode. In situations like this, diplomacy relies heavily on the ingenuity and resourcefulness of individual officers. I do hope Wisma Putra is now staffed by such officers.

In the life of a nation, if there is any matter that can, and should be able to, represent the national interest and command bipartisan support, it would be matters concerning the nation’s foreign policy. The framework repeatedly uses the words “New Malaysia”, “PH Government”, “PH Administration”, making the document sound like an election manifesto for the next General Election. I certainly hope that the framework will have a longer lifespan than that.

KADIR MOHAMAD Kuala Lumpur

Note: The writer was a former Wisma Putra secretary-general and is the author of MalaysiaSingapore: Fifty Years Of Contentions, 1965-2015