Commentary by Phar Kim Beng, Professor of ASEAN Studies, International Islamic University Malaysia.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recent trip to Russia, including his stop in Kazan for the Russia–Islamic World: Kazan Forum 2025, has raised questions among critics who misread it as a geopolitical tilt or an implicit affront to the West.
But to frame this journey in binary terms - East versus West, or Islam versus the liberal order - is both shallow and inaccurate.
In truth, Anwar’s outreach to Russia should be seen in its correct frame: as a deliberate, principled effort to enhance regional resilience in a world where the global economic and financial architecture is increasingly fractured.
Local Currencies for Local Strength
In an interview with TV BRICS, Anwar highlighted one key initiative that reflects this regional focus - the Chiang Mai Initiative.
This regional multilateral currency swap arrangement, initially involving the ASEAN+3 countries (China, Japan, and South Korea), is now evolving into a more robust mechanism of financial cooperation.
Anwar noted that countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and China have already begun using local currencies in about 20 per cent of their bilateral trade, amounting to billions of dollars in transactions. This is no small feat in a world still largely dominated by the US dollar.
These moves, Anwar stressed, are not designed to dethrone the dollar, but to “establish some form of reprieve to help mitigate risks and protect our national interests.”
In the wake of volatile US monetary policy, unilateral sanctions, and de-dollarisation trends led by the BRICS bloc, regional monetary autonomy is not anti-West - it is pro-stability.
Regionalism: The Precursor to Globalisation
Anwar’s statements point to a larger truth: regionalism has always been the precursor and foundation of globalisation.
Before goods, services, and capital flowed across continents, they flowed across borders within regions. Trade, trust, and treaties were first forged between neighbours.
The UN Charter’s Chapter VIII explicitly recognises regional arrangements as necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
In Asia, the spirit of regional financial self-help has long been in the air. Proposals such as the Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) and the Asian Currency Unit (ACU) emerged during and after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, when countries realised the limitations of relying solely on Bretton Woods institutions like the IMF.
Japan floated the idea of the AMF to provide emergency liquidity directly to Asian economies. Though the proposal was quietly shelved under pressure from the US Treasury and IMF, the logic behind it has not faded.
Today, as geopolitical fragmentation deepens, the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) and bilateral currency swaps are steps toward that very vision of financial regionalism—one that is less susceptible to the whims of extra-regional powers.
Not Isolationism, But Inclusion
Malaysia’s diplomacy under Anwar Ibrahim is not about turning inward or isolating from the West.
It is about balancing, diversifying, and deepening regional roots, while staying globally engaged. By engaging Russia, Anwar is not condoning all of Moscow’s actions; rather, he is asserting ASEAN’s right to speak with all powers, not just a select few.
As a mature democracy, Malaysia reserves the right to articulate its interests and values on the global stage.
The Russia–Islamic World Forum in Kazan is not a tool of confrontation - it is a platform of convergence, one that reflects Malaysia’s commitment to intercivilisational dialogue and Islamic solidarity without negating its Western partnerships.
Indeed, Malaysia continues to value its strong trade and investment relationships with the US, the European Union, and the UK.
But this should not come at the cost of silencing legitimate engagement with China, Russia, Central Asia, or the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
In fact, Anwar’s visit underscores the need for multi-vector diplomacy, something long embedded in Malaysia’s foreign policy tradition dating back to Tun Razak and continued through Mahathir and Abdullah Badawi.
Asia as an Anchor in a Post-Global World
The world is now shifting from a unipolar, globalisation-driven model to a more regionalised, fragmented order - a phenomenon some scholars have termed “slowbalisation”. In this climate, regions like ASEAN must rebuild trust and cooperation from the inside out.
Energy security, trade finance, digital infrastructure, and semiconductors are no longer merely national issues - they are deeply regional, if not civilisational, in scope.
The Chiang Mai Initiative, with its emphasis on currency stability, is one pillar.
Others include the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), cross-border QR code payment systems, regional green bond markets, and efforts at harmonising digital standards. Together, these build economic sovereignty, not dependency.
Anwar’s support for such initiatives reflects not nostalgia, but pragmatism. His call for using local currencies in trade is not a revolution; it is a recalibration of Asia’s own tools of resilience.
Conclusion: Return to First Principles
In the face of rising Islamophobia, Sinophobia, trade wars, and technological decoupling, the time has come for Asia to return to first principles - dialogue, respect for sovereignty, mutual benefit, and cooperation.
Anwar’s engagement in Russia, Central Asia, and the Islamic world is a civilisational choice, not a geopolitical gamble. Malaysia is asserting that the future of the international order lies not in confrontation, but in confluence.
In this regard, the Kazan Forum, the Chiang Mai Initiative, and other Asian platforms represent a gentle but firm resistance to economic coercion, and a revival of regional multilateralism at its best.
In other words, Anwar’s diplomacy is not anti-West. It is pro-Asia, pro-justice, and pro-resilience - values the world needs now more than ever.
-- BERNAMA
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of BERNAMA)
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