The emergence of COVID-19 as a pandemic has caused major disruptions in international trade and investment to the world and Malaysia. As an open economy and a trading nation where trade is about 131 per cent of the GDP in 2018, Malaysia is vulnerable to external demand. Whilst acknowledging the importance of safeguarding lives during this pandemic period, it is also important to safeguard the business community and Malaysia’s position as a significant player in the global value chain (GVC) and supply chains. To successfully emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, Malaysia has to adopt a bold, radical, strong and implementable multi-pronged policy approach, employing economics, political-economy and diplomacy approaches. Malaysia must start early to promote its products for exports and diversify export markets whilst looking for new FDIs and DDIs in existing and new promoted sectors. Trade promotion, investment promotion and economic diplomacy must be seen as an integral part of Malaysia’s positioning as an important trade and investment powerhouse. Malaysia must enhance the role of economic diplomacy by Malaysian diplomatic missions abroad. Embassies should be given the role to not only work closely with MATRADE and MIDA offices but to also take initiatives to promote Malaysian products and services, and Malaysia as an investment destination.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted in 1998 led to the establishment of the ICC four years later. Malaysia decided to be part of the ICC in April 2019 but withdrew about a month later in May 2019. Was Malaysia’s retraction legally justifiable, or did it have anything to do with political nuances? This article will investigate the related tenets of the Federal Constitution (FC) and the Rome Statute, specifically the role of the Yang di Pertuan Agong (YDPA) as the Supreme Commander of the Malaysian Armed Forces, and those dealing with the jurisdiction of the ICC. The objective of this article is to examine the reason(s) for Malaysia’s retraction from the Rome Statute from the purview of the FC. It also identifies whether the scope of the command responsibility in the Rome Statute affects the role of the YDPA. This article finds that the prerogative of the YDPA as enshrined in the FC will not be ruined via Malaysia becoming a party to the ICC.

Deng Xiaoping’s Four Modernisations focused on strengthening four critical areas of the Chinese economy: Agriculture, Industry, Defence, and Science and Technology (in short, AIDS). The Elder Statesman’s political/economic/ foreign policy strategy contained three key elements: (1) ideologically, to break away from the communist straight-jacketed thinking of the Maoist era which culminated in the disastrous Cultural Revolution (1963-1966); (2) economically, to modernise China through reform-oriented policies in AIDS; and (3) politically, to formulate a foreign policy that will ensure a regional environment in Asia/Southeast Asia that is friendly to China and which will support a stronger economic engagement between China and Southeast Asia. In short, Chinese foreign policy between 1978 and 1989 aimed to create a peaceful external environment that will facilitate the Beijing regime’s concentration on internal economic reform. This article argues that the major overhaul of China’s economy under Deng, his disavowal of support for regional communist movements, his positive view of ASEAN’s growing independence and neutrality vis-à-vis the big powers, and his desire to strengthen economic engagement with the regional entity – has put China-ASEAN interactions on a positive trajectory despite growing power asymmetries between a rising China and Southeast Asia. This article will therefore examine the political, economic and strategic impact of China’s economic statecraft between 1978-1989, as manifested by Deng’s Four Modernisations, on China-ASEAN relations.

Globalisation has emerged as one of the most significant and dominant concepts in the post-Cold War period. The term globalisation has become so capacious that it constitutes a site of endless contestations in both specialist and general literature on the topic. Nevertheless, substantial amount of literature exists especially in the social sciences focussing on various perspectives and aspects utilising different theoretical frameworks on globalisation. This article intends to concentrate on one of the five central topics in globalisation i.e. the implications of globalisation for state power and governance. Conjunction with the topic, this article presents a critical assessment of the literature from the international political perspective on the concept of globalisation and the theoretical approaches employed to ascertain its relations to nation states. The literature review in this article will focus on two main parts. The first part discusses how the three mainstream international relations theories view globalisation. The second part examines the debate on the effect of globalisation on the nation states. There has been much debate on globalisation especially on whether it is undermining state sovereignty and the role of state
itself. The article concludes by arguing that the international relations theories and schools of thought on globalisation perceive globalisation differently and each arrives at different conclusions as to its meaning and consequences. This is because each theory has a prior view of what is pertinent in world politics. It greatly hinges on which perspective one wishes to view the world and then to conceptualise it.

Leveraging on Article 5(a) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), this article proposes a model of transformative equality as a methodological approach for women’s empowerment to shift towards gender equality both in Malaysia and in ASEAN. Malaysia is in a unique position to rethink gender strategy to advance Malaysia’s economic development and to close the gender gap, simultaneously generating economic growth domestically and leading the way for ASEAN. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is primely positioned to facilitate gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, but yet places little emphasis on gender equality and the promotion of women’s equal economic participation. The opportunity exists within the fourth characteristic of the Blueprint 2025, “A Resilient, Inclusive, People-Oriented and People-Centred ASEAN,” to promote equitable economic development. This article first introduces the concept of CEDAW’s transformative equality. Secondly, the article proposes reforms needed and applies the transformative equality framework, developed by Dr. Sandra Fredman1, to Malaysia to demonstrate how women’s economic inclusion can meaningfully contribute to economic wellness of the country as a whole. Thirdly, the article underscores the need to apply the transformative equality framework to international trade agreements in order to drive gender equality and create economic growth. Finally, the article proposes the incorporation of this methodology into the AEC Blueprint 2025, and into future blueprints and AEC policies.