Seminar Abstract

From the South China Sea disputes to minilateral proliferation, speculation is already building on how Malaysia could move the needle on key challenges during its 2025 ASEAN chairmanship led by its outspoken Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Yet a closer examination of internal and external dynamics and conversations with officials suggest a more sober and realistic outlook given domestic, regional and global realities. This seminar will examine this subject by analysing ASEAN’s wider institutional challenges at play over the past few years, Malaysia’s likely approach to key issues and how the ASEAN agenda is likely to evolve in the coming years amid the ASEAN Community Vision 2045. In doing so, it will also examine Malaysia’s policy positions on areas such as U.S.-China competition, the BRICS grouping, conflict in the Middle East, the South China Sea and Myanmar.

About the Speaker

Prashanth Parameswaran is a global fellow with the Wilson Center and the founder of the ASEAN Wonk newsletter, a publication which produces twice-weekly insights on Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific geopolitics and geoeconomics. He is also a senior columnist for The Diplomat magazine, an advisor at the consultancy BowerGroupAsia and an instructor on Southeast Asia for the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. His published field research in Southeast Asia has spanned all the region’s 11 countries, covering topics such as major power competition, the evolution of institutions and partnerships as well as regional security trends.