MALAYSIA has been ranked No. 9 out of 25 Asian countries in an Australian survey described as the most comprehensive study of power in Asia ever undertaken.

Over the longer term, however, Malaysia’s standing may be more unpredictable given the fluidity of its political-economic situation.

The trend, in fact, may be heading downwards on its economic standing, said Hervé Lemahieu, programme director of Lowy Institute, an international policy think-tank in Sydney behind the Asia Power Index.

Lemahieu is principal researcher of the study, first published last year. The 2019 edition was launched in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The index ranks Malaysia at No. 9, just beneath Australia at No. 7 and Singapore at No. 8.

Powers that followed Malaysia in order are Thailand, Indonesia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Pakistan, North Korea (South Korea is at No. 6) and the Philippines.

Lemahieu highlighted Malaysia as among the most improved middle powers after North Korea from the 2018 index.

The spotlight draws attention to Malaysia among the key findings of the index.

“The power of leaders to shape their countries’ foreign policy is reaffirmed in ninth-placing Malaysia’s strong performance following the surprise return to office of (then) 93-year-old Prime Minister (Dr) Mahathir Mohamad in 2018,” said the report.

“Malaysia’s stature has diminished since the heyday of the first Mahathir prime ministership two decades ago. The Asian tiger has fallen one place for economic resources in 2019 faced with the growth of neighbouring economies.

“Yet despite these structural constraints, Malaysia has fared better in the last year across the index’s influence measures, where it has resumed its standing among the top 10 most diplomatically influential powers in Asia and trended upwards for defence diplomacy.

“Kuala Lumpur’s external policy under Mahathir 2.0 has explicitly been refocused on the geo-economic security, resilience and bargaining power of Southeast Asian states faced with great-power rivalry and turbulence in the Trump-Xi era,” referring to US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.

“(Dr) Mahathir has succeeded in obtaining more favourable terms for foreign-funded infrastructure projects – notably a major Chinese-funded rail project linking Kuala Lumpur to southern Thailand – while maintaining close ties to Beijing,” it said.

Lemahieu’s response to a question from The Malaysian Insight affirms the soft power of Malaysia’s diplomacy quotient that has leveraged Putrajaya’s punching above its weight.

He drew attention to the slide in economic standing relative to Malaysia’s neighbours and would not be drawn on prospects for 2020 since Dr Mahathir’s return to power.

Lowy’s Asia Power Index evaluates state power through 126 indicators across eight thematic measures – military capability and defence networks, economic resources and relationships, diplomatic and cultural influence, as well as resilience and future resources.

Among the interests of a largely Australian audience was the perplexity of a Melbourne resident who recently returned from a visit to Sabah.

“I could not find a single person who identified himself as a Malaysian,” he said.

Lemahieu pointed to the various matrices of his power index to account for identity and dissent among nations. His response highlights the Asia Index as an analytical tool of quantitative rather than qualitative value. – July 19, 2019.