Between ceasefires and catastrophe: Why South Asia needs Anwar's diplomacy — Phar Kim Beng

Malay Mail

03-05-2025

MAY 3 — As tensions between India and Pakistan flare once more — this time ignited by the tragic killing of 26 Hindu civilians in Kashmir, allegedly by elements associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the world again inches perilously close to a nuclear precipice.
In a moment when major powers appear fatigued, distracted, or indifferent, Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim must seize a rare opening to assert leadership beyond Asean's borders. His statesmanship is needed now — not just to restore South-east Asian credibility, but to help steer the broader Indo-Pacific away from catastrophe.
Indeed, the situation in Myanmar remains dire, and Asean's credibility is at stake if it continues to falter.
Yet Malaysia has already positioned a capable and respected diplomat — Tan Sri Othman Hashim — as its Special Envoy to handle the Myanmar file. Let him be empowered to take a firm stance against Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, especially in enforcing the Five-Point Consensus.
That consensus, painstakingly negotiated by Asean, begins with a simple demand: a total and unconditional ceasefire. To date, that demand has been shamelessly flouted by the junta.
But while Othman presses forward in Naypyidaw, Anwar must shift his direct attention to South Asia.
The stakes are existential.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. Both are members of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF), a body originally designed to prevent exactly this type of escalation in Asia. Yet the ARF, like many regional mechanisms, has been largely paralysed by procedural caution and geopolitical hedging. If the Forum will not act, then its Chair must.
Border Security Force (BSF) officials stand at a barricade the Attari-Wagah border crossing with Pakistan, near Amritsar, India, May 1, 2025. — Reuters pic
With the Prime Minister of Pakistan scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur on May 8, the moment could not be more timely — or more fragile. That visit now hangs in the balance. Islamabad may cancel, citing surging tensions along the Line of Control and inflammatory rhetoric from New Delhi. India, for its part, views Lashkar-e-Taiba not merely as a terrorist organisation, but as a militant proxy of the Pakistani state — a claim that Islamabad vehemently denies. Still, the ghosts of the 2008 Mumbai attacks remain fresh, and the cycle of recrimination spins ever faster.
It would be a grave mistake to dismiss this as just another India-Pakistan flare-up.
This time, the geopolitical context is markedly more combustible. In the United States, President Donald Trump appears consumed by his own hubris.
Convinced that the first 100 days of his second term have been a grandiose success, Trump behaves as though he walks on water — oblivious to the deeper ruptures his policies have caused.
Even a temporary pause on tariffs directed at China has failed to restore confidence, as the damage from years of economic brinkmanship runs both deep and wide — for China and the United States alike.
Washington is increasingly absorbed in managing the consequences of its own disruptions, leaving little bandwidth for nuanced diplomacy in South Asia.
China, for its part, is under pressure from global economic headwinds and is recalibrating its approach to both Islamabad and New Delhi. Russia, heavily engaged in Ukraine and pivoting further toward authoritarian consolidation, is in no position to mediate.
The European Union has little leverage in South Asia, and the United Nations, for all its intent, has failed to manage longstanding disputes like Kashmir.
What remains is a dangerous vacuum of power, diplomacy, and moral authority.
This is precisely the space that Anwar must fill — not as a saviour, but as a sensible intermediary.
Anwar carries with him the moral capital of Malaysia's non-aligned tradition, the legitimacy of Asean's rotating chairmanship, and a reputation for speaking truth to power.
Moreover, Malaysia's close relations with both India and Pakistan — cultivated carefully over decades — put Anwar in a rare position to speak to both sides with empathy and credibility.
His intervention need not be grandiose. But it must be immediate. Even convening an urgent track 1.5 dialogue in Kuala Lumpur, under the aegis of the Asean Regional Forum, could be enough to de-escalate the moment of extreme mutual hostility.
It would signal that someone in the Indo-Pacific is still willing to shoulder the burden of diplomacy.
It would also restore some relevance to Asean's external engagements, which too often have been reduced to empty communiqués and stalled mechanisms.
In doing so, Anwar would remind the world that Asean, despite its consensus-based constraints, is not without voice or value.
Some may argue that Malaysia has no business wading into a conflict involving two giant neighbours. But this thinking must be rejected. Nuclear deterrence may have kept outright war at bay, but it has also created a permanent state of near-crisis in South Asia. Waiting passively while events spiral out of control is not prudence — it is abdication.
Anwar should of course remain grounded in Malaysia's national interest. But increasingly, Malaysia's interest lies in regional stability, and South Asia is too close — and too dangerous — to ignore.
Moreover, Malaysia's preponderant Muslim identity may resonate with segments of Pakistan's leadership.
Although Malaysia's identity make up is irrelevant. It is solving a nuclear crisis head on.
Indeed, give Malaysia's long history of multiculturalism and diplomatic neutrality could strike a chord in New Delhi. In short, Malaysia offers a bridge no other Asian power is currently positioned to offer.
The international system is in disarray. Major powers are shirking responsibilities.
The world is once again fragmenting into blocs of convenience and confrontation. Against this backdrop, small and medium powers must reclaim agency.
They must help steer the world away from zero-sum thinking and toward collective survival.
For Anwar, the moment is now. The emphasis on now. Indeed, now or never...
* Phar Kim Beng is a Professor of Asean Studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.