Thriving India-Malaysia Relations

The Malaysian Prime Minister MohdNajibTun Abdul Razak was on a six-day state visit to India from 30 March to 4 April 2017. The visit assumed great significance not only in the context of the two countries commemorating the 60^th anniversary of India-Malaysia diplomatic relations this year, but it was also an occasion to take the stock of the progress in the bilateral ties between India and Malaysia since Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Malaysia in 2015. The two leaders held a detailed discussion on a wide range of issues of common security, economic and other interests and signed sevenimportant memorandum of understanding.

India and Malaysia have deep historical and cultural linkages, building a strong friendly and cooperative relationship. More importantly, in the 1960s Malaysia extended full support to India during the India-China war (1962) and India-Pakistan war (1965). India has been supportive of Malaysia’s active role in the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM); Malaysia extended its support for India to get the status of an observer nation in the ASEAN.

The end of the Cold War witnessed significant improvement in the bilateral ties. Prime Minister P. V. Narsimha Rao adopted the “Look East” Policy to strength ties with East Asian countries and visited Malaysia in 1995, enhancing the engagement between the two countries. Successive Indian governmentscontinued to consolidate and expand the bilateral ties between the two countries, with New Delhi and Kula Lumpur having scaled up the relationship to the level of a strategic partnership in 2010.

When the Modi government came to power, India focused on reorienting ties with East Asian countries under its “Act East “initiative. Consequently, Prime Minister Modi visited Malaysia in 2015 and described India’s relationship with Malaysia as the ‘core’ of its “‘Act East Policy,” introducing a new momentum in the bilateral ties. Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak’s visit has further reinforced the fact that in a changing regional dynamics New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur have more convincing reasons to maintain strong bilateral ties than ever in the past.

One important contour of the bilateral ties has been economic cooperation. Trade between the two countries increased from $0.6 billion in 1992 to $ 16.9 billion in 2014-15. While India is the largest trading partner for Malaysia in South Asia, Malaysia is the second largest trading partner for India within ASEAN. Malaysia has become the 23^rd largest investor in India. During Mr. Najib’s visit, the two Prime Ministers expressed their aspiration to see this trade increase to $15 billion in the immediate future. This ambition is very significant in view of the fact that the trade volume fell to $12.08 billion in 2015-16 and further slipped down to $10.8 billion in 2016-17. Infrastructure development in India emerged as a special focus of the visit. Given its expertise in infrastructure development including roads, highways, ports and others, Malayisa can play an important role in promoting the Modi government’s initiatives of Smart Cities and Skill India. From their side, since India is going to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure development, Malaysian companies have their own economic interests in exploring India’s this sector. In fact, companies from two countries have agreed for deals worth of $36 billion, of which $32.13 billion worth of projects would be implemented in Malaysia and $3. 86 billion worth of projects in India. At a time when Beijing’s trade with AEASN having reached $480 billion and China is focused on expanding its economic clout in the region through a $100 billion Silk Road initiative, enhanced economic ties with Malaysia is certainly  needed for India to improve its presence in the ASEAN.

The presence of the Indian community in Malaysia accounting for nearly 8% of the total population is another strong bound between the two countries in the sense that it has played an indispensable role in promoting people-people contact, thereby installing trust in the relationship. Since the Indian-Malaysian community is culturally very much linked to India, securing the support of this community has been a priority for political parties in Malaysia. This can be gauged from the fact that one of the reasons for Prime Minister Razakto arrive at Chennai and meet actor Rajnikant was to show his affection for Tamil people, as he is planning to advance parliamentary elections in his country to 2017 from 2018.                                                                                 

Defence cooperation has been a major pillar of the relationship. Ever since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in 1993, the two countries have enhanced defence cooperation through reciprocal manpower training, involving exchanges of personnel at military colleges and in naval ports, exchange of information, seminars and defence meetings. During the Malaysian Prime Minister’s visit, the two leaders agreed to hold the exercises to company level, and subsequently as tri-services exercises. Prime Minister Najib also announced to buy spare parts of Sukhoi SU-30 aircrafts from India, which in turn would help Malaysia to strength its airpower.

As the strategic location of Malaysia enables it to control the Strait of Malacca, which is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world and connects the main sea route between the Indian and Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, ensuring the peace and security in this region is of a great priority for both the countries. In fact, this aspect has assumed an added importance in light of China’s efforts towards converting South China Sea as its exclusive zone. It was precisely in an oblique reference to Chinathat the Joint statement mentioned respecting freedom of navigation and over-flight, and unimpeded lawful commerce, based on the principles of international law.The two countries would also effectively take the issue of trafficking of weapons, humans and drugs carried out in the Strait of Malacca.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib’s concurrence with India against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, stating that thefight against terrorism should not only seek to eliminate terrorists, terror organisations, but should also identify, hold accountable and take strong measures against States, is a big success for India’s in terms of its effort to exposing Pakistan as a breeding ground for terrorism.

While the visit of the Prime Minister has set the stage for greater cooperation between the two countries, the forceful domestic and regional factors, along with the personal chemistry of the both the Prime Ministers would continue to navigate the relationship to a new height in the future.