Mohamad: Asean gains trust, recognised as a peaceful region after successful AMM
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said Asean is also increasingly recognised as a peaceful region with excellent economic growth.
"Many countries are lining up and waiting to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) because it is the first step for them to become Asean partners.
"From the five original member countries, we are now 10, and in October, it will be 11 countries (with the entry of Timor-Leste). More countries are now applying to become Asean sectoral partners and dialogue partners," he told a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre today.
Mohamad added that although Asean currently has a moratorium on accepting new dialogue partners, the regional bloc would not be too rigid about it.
"There are one or two that need to be considered, and if we accept a country as a dialogue partner, it will add significant value to Asean, so we look at that need," he said.
Regarding the successful organisation of the AMM, Mohamad said 21 meetings involving Asean and its strategic partners, as well as the Fourth Conference on Cooperation among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD IV), were held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
"Separately, I held 15 bilateral meetings with my counterparts from Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, Palestine, the Philippines, Switzerland, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay.
"During all these meetings, we discussed strengthening bilateral relations and international issues of mutual interest," he said.
On Timor-Leste's inclusion as the 11th Asean member state, Mohamad said the regional bloc's foreign ministers acknowledged that related procedural work was underway.
"The AMM also adopted the Guidelines for Facilitating Timor-Leste's Participation in Asean Legal Instruments under the purview of the AMM.
"The AMM also encouraged Timor-Leste to take action to accede to the relevant legal instruments as soon as possible," he said.
Additionally, Mohamad said Asean foreign ministers urged all parties in Myanmar, especially the State Administration Council (SAC), to cease hostilities and violence and adhere to the ceasefire to ensure humanitarian aid can be delivered without obstruction.
He said this call was in line with the decision of the 46th Asean Summit held last May.
He added that Asean continues to fully support the efforts of the Special Envoy of the Asean Chair on Myanmar, Tan Sri Othman Hashim, in facilitating a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
"Malaysia also expressed concern regarding the unsatisfactory implementation of the Five-Point Consensus on the ground.
"We urge all stakeholders to take concrete action, especially concerning three main points: the cessation of hostilities, inclusive dialogue involving all parties, and humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
33 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Malaysia's durian exports expected to exceed RM1.5b this year
GUA MUSANG: The Agriculture and Food Security Ministry expects Malaysia's durian exports to exceed RM1.5 billion this year, following strong demand from major markets such as China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada. Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said the total value of the country's durian exports abroad had increased by 256.3 per cent or equivalent to RM822.8 million in five years, from RM321.2 million in 2018 to RM1.14 billion in 2022. "This increase proves the great potential of durian as a high-value agro-food commodity that not only provides great returns to the country, but also opens up economic opportunities for the people at various levels," he said when opening the 2025 Durian Festival at the Gua Musang District Council's main hall here today. He said efforts to promote durian through festivals and programmes like this were also deemed important to stimulate the growth of the high-value agricultural sector and create a value chain involving farmers, logistics, retailers, processing industries and tourism. Mohamad said that based on the global fresh durian market report by global market research firm Mordor Intelligence (2024), the value of the world durian market is expected to reach more than USD10.78 billion in 2025 and jump to USD16.89 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4 per cent. "China remains the key driver of this growth, accounting for more than 90 per cent of total durian imports in the Asia Pacific, thus becoming a key strategic market for Malaysian exporters. "On June 19, 2024, Malaysia successfully signed the Protocol on Phytosanitary Requirements for the Export of Fresh Durian Fruit to China, which opened up new market access for fresh durian exports from Malaysia to the country," he said. Previously, export access to China was limited to durian in pulp and paste form in 2011, and frozen whole fruits in 2018. – Bernama
The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
Malaysia durian exports to surpass RM1.5 billion in 2025
GUA MUSANG: The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM) projects Malaysia's durian exports to surpass RM1.5 billion in 2025, fueled by strong international demand. Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu highlighted a 256.3% surge in export value over five years, rising from RM321.2 million in 2018 to RM1.14 billion in 2022. 'This growth underscores durian's potential as a high-value agro-food commodity, benefiting both the national economy and local communities,' he said during the 2025 Durian Festival opening at the Gua Musang District Council hall. Durian festivals and promotional programs play a crucial role in boosting the sector's value chain, involving farmers, logistics, retailers, and tourism. According to Mordor Intelligence's 2024 report, the global durian market is projected to hit USD10.78 billion in 2025, climbing to USD16.89 billion by 2030 at a 9.4% annual growth rate. 'China remains the dominant market, contributing over 90% of Asia-Pacific durian imports,' Mohamad noted. Malaysia recently secured fresh durian export access to China under a new phytosanitary protocol signed on June 19, 2024. Previously, exports were restricted to pulp, paste, and frozen whole fruits. - Bernama
Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Mahathir at 100: evaluating the man of the century
Our indomitable two-time ex-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad turned a hundred years old recently. Amazingly, even at a hundred, he's out and about with more energy than I can muster on the best of days, even though I'm only as old as one of his children. I extend my heartiest congratulations to Tun. I hope he's recovering well from the recent birthday exertions. And I hope he'll share with me the real secrets of his longevity – something other than the one about the need to stop eating before one is full! Regardless of people's opinions on Tun, you must agree he's been the most significant political figure in Malaysia's modern history, a factor in the life of a vast majority of Malaysians since the 1960s, if not earlier. And it seems like he's not going anywhere any time soon. I remember when he was appointed Malaysia's education minister in the 1970s. Young people were quite excited about it. Being an education minister in those days was a sign of one's political star rising, as it certainly was in Tun's case. Tun was certainly popular with young people: they saw in him a rebel and a fearless man. He went on to bigger political jobs, but the state of our current education system is certainly a part of his legacy, for better or for worse. It is a constant source of annoyance to me that many old people whinge about how good education used to be in the 'good old days' when, apparently, we all loved each other regardless of race or religion and ate off each other's plates and drank off each other's cups without a care in the world. Even if that had been so, it was true only for the elite and the lucky ones from the urban areas. The rest, meaning most of us in the villages and backwaters, could only dream of having a good education, had we dared to dream about anything at all. Luckily, opportunities are now available to everyone to become sufficiently educated to be able to function and earn a living in our society. That's certainly something to be grateful for, and that's certainly one of Tun's legacies. Missed opportunity Unfortunately, we missed the opportunity where we could have turned our schools into instruments to create a sorely-needed Malaysian culture, one that binds the disparate cultures of the various communities. That moment has passed. I, for one, don't blame the switch to Bahasa Malaysia as the main language of instruction as being a major factor in this failure. I believe we could've done that and still made schools the unifying factor for all Malaysians regardless of the medium of instruction. The problem was to please the more conservative part of Malay politics. Mahathir let into our schools those who championed race, religion and language, to the extent that I often wonder whether there's now any difference between normal schools and actual religious schools. Stuffing more religious material into school curricula didn't work. Malaysians aren't more moral, honest and law abiding because of it. All it did was give way too much unearned resources and power to the politicians to do even more of what they have been doing. Another problem was that we neglected English because of the increasingly chauvinistic and insular attitudes of many Malays. I don't think Tun was the instigator of this neglect but he certainly opened the door for many to politicise this excessively. Even today many Malaysians, especially Malays, don't see being multilingual as an asset. That's unfortunate, because there's no sin in being greedy about acquiring and accumulating the wealth of languages. To be fair, the other problem then and now is that there are many equally chauvinistic non-Malays, especially Chinese, who insist on clinging to their own culture – especially language and schools – as a critical part of their identity and preservation of their own little corner of the old homeland. Malays and non-Malays, whether through nationalism or chauvinism, must both share the blame for where we are now, which is that our education system is nowhere near helping us fulfil our potential as a nation. Tun himself certainly played the nationalism card hard, especially against the more laid-back attitudes of Tunku Abdul Rahman and his cohort. Doing it, his way While Tun wasn't the worst of the nation's leaders, his impact has certainly been the longest lasting, and the most consequential. You can't try to make sense of Tun without having the word 'ego' in the explanation somewhere. Tun has this 'ego' in spades. But that's understandable because you certainly can't lead a nation unless you have some strong belief in your own self and your destiny. But in Tun's case it was a strong but also a wounded ego. He has a big chip on his shoulder, one that made him focus more on his own paths and his own grievances and on pointing fingers at others – the British, the West in general, the non-Malays and basically anybody who isn't in sync with his thinking and vision. Unfortunately such an ego robbed him of self-awareness and introspection, and the priceless ability to step back, listen, and make the occasional apology and compromise and move on to a better trajectory. Tun never backed down from a fight. In fact, he started many of them. Some of the fights that he won – such as the fight against the judiciary, the fight to privatise many public assets and services – unfortunately saddled us with systemic corruption and big financial losses. Even many of the fights he supposedly won, such as industrialising the country through heavy industries and the national car projects, didn't turn out to be much of a victory after all. Many of them cost the rakyat lots of money, whether directly or indirectly, for years and even decades later. It's the fights he didn't pick, such as taking the agricultural sector into the 21st century, that we rue the most. In his haste to leapfrog and match the West, he forgot that agriculture is where the Malays have more advantages, by reason of history, culture and land ownership, as opposed to heavy industries. Adding business-savvy practices and high tech to areas where we're already familiar with – food production, cash crops etc – would've elevated the Malays' economic status more successfully. The current global concerns about food security show that it would've been the correct strategic thing to do too. Ups and downs After becoming prime minister at 56, an age when most people retire, he was to surprise the nation 22 years later by voluntarily retiring from office. He didn't quite retire gracefully – remember that 'ego' thing – and when in 2018 he got back to Putrajaya for the second time, he had a long to-do list. Unfortunately, that didn't include being the elder statesman who had chosen to rise above petty political games and machinations and becoming the one who stabilises the nation during a time of momentous change. He fought his battles, but he lacked a strong political base. He lost and had an ignominious second, and involuntary, retirement. Since then, he's been seething with bitterness against those who stood against him. I would argue that the bitterness is made worse because deep down he knows he's failed. I think he knows he missed the chance to be more than just a politician but a true statesman, the 'Father of Malaysian Recovery' righting the Malaysian ship that by then had strayed badly off course. Credit where credit is due Enough of the bashings. Credit must also be given where credit is due. He led Malaysia into building outstanding infrastructure in highways, ports, airports, and telecommunications. Even though all these projects carried some baggage of corruption, they have also been critical in helping with our economic growth. He made Malaysia a respected name in the world, especially among developing countries. He was bold in taking on the powerful interests of the West, which required a lot of courage. With his 'ego', he literally succeeded in putting Malaysia on the world map. During many of my travels, I found that being a Malaysian was a big deal , especially in remote places in the 'third world' such as Africa or Central Asia. A Malaysian flag patch on your clothing guaranteed a thumbs-up from the locals, who were especially respectful and even quite knowledgeable of our most well-known leader, the good Tun. Tun is intelligent, too, well read on a huge array of subjects, and comfortable with the big picture as well as the details. I may not agree with everything he said and did, but I was never worried about being embarrassed when he opened his mouth, especially on the world stage. So, it's not that easy to evaluate Tun's impact on Malaysia. It's politics, after all, and Tun is quite a polarising figure. People either love him or hate him, with not many people in the middle. But without a doubt his impact is huge, and through sheer willpower, perhaps driven by the desire to outlast all his enemies, he's still here among us, looking way healthier and alert than his age would suggest. Perhaps there's something in his advice about not cleaning up your plate at mealtimes after all. But that is incredibly hard to do, and if Tun was to claim that as his most important life achievement, I would probably not argue against him. Meanwhile, happy belated birthday Tun, and may you have many more healthy years ahead of you. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
