The ASEAN-Australia Special Commemorative Summit to be held in Melbourne next month will mark 50 years of dialogue and follows on from the Sydney meeting in March 2018, where leaders reaffirmed ASEAN’s centrality and commitment to regional cooperation. It is. Further consultations will allow Australia and ASEAN to reflect on their achievements since 2018, including with Singapore and Malaysia, which share a long-standing relationship with Australia that predates ASEAN’s creation in 1967, across security, economic and socio-cultural domains. can.
In security and defence, a critical pillar of the relationship is the multilateral Five-Party Defense Agreement (FPDA), of which Australia is a member. It began in 1971 to defend Singapore and Malaysia from hostile forces and support a rules-based regional order during their formative years. The FPDA must continue to play an important role today, as Southeast Asia is surrounded by what former Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa described as an “arc of instability.”
The warmth of Malaysian-Australian relations was highlighted when Australian Senator Penny Wong visited Malaysia in 2022, shortly after she was sworn in as Australia’s new Foreign Minister.
Bilaterally, the Malaysia-Australia Joint Defense Program remains the cornerstone of defense relations. It facilitates high-level defense policy discussions, training, and joint exercises to enhance interoperability between the two countries’ militaries. The presence of the Australian Defense Force at Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth in Penang operates an integrated air defense system under the FPDA initiative, providing strategic value to the defense of both Malaysia and Singapore.
With Singapore, Australian and Singaporean defense officials meet every two years under the auspices of the Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Committee. A recent meeting held in May 2023 discussed the Singapore Armed Forces’ use of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland over the past 33 years and the joint development of advanced training facilities there. Under the wishes of the FPDA, a defense logistics facility has been established at Singapore’s Sembawang Pier where Royal Australian Navy ships can berth and replenish supplies.
In the economic field, Malaysia and Australia signed the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect in 2013. In 2021, Malaysia and Australia upgraded their bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The warmth of Malaysian-Australian relations was highlighted when Australian Senator Penny Wong visited Malaysia in 2022, shortly after she was sworn in as Australia’s new Foreign Minister. She described her trip to Malaysia as a “balik kampung,” or return home, highlighting the socio-cultural relationship between the two countries. In fact, this is also defined by the fact that Australia is home to her second largest Malaysian diaspora.
After signing the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement in 2003, bilateral relations between the two countries improved with the two countries formalizing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2015. The positive attitude of the leaders of both countries came to the fore during the signing of the Singapore-Australia Agreement. The Digital Economy Agreement was signed in 2020, demonstrating a determination to shape new rules and standards for a secure digital space. The agreement also includes the maintenance of submarine communications cables, which are critical infrastructure around the world. Indeed, relations have blossomed since 1980, when Singapore’s first prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, said Australia risked becoming “Asia’s impoverished white trash” if it did not reform its economy and labor market.
Malaysia and Singapore should leverage the strength of their bilateral relationship to maintain regional cooperation, including through ASEAN-centric mechanisms.
The long-standing and comprehensive relationship between Australia, Malaysia and Singapore is evidence of commonality in strategic outlook. They are a natural regional partner as we seek to manage risks and find opportunities in an increasingly uncertain Asia-Pacific region. There is always scope for substantive and practical cooperation, especially in the areas of defense and economy.
And amidst forces opposing multilateralism, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore need to leverage the strength of their bilateral relationships to maintain regional cooperation through ASEAN-centric mechanisms. For example, the possibility that Timor-Leste, the 11th ASEAN member state in principle, could pool its expertise to help build capacity in sustainable agriculture, natural tourism, digitalisation, maritime security and defense professionalization. There is. This initiative will help Timor-Leste stay in ASEAN’s orbit and build the necessary resilience to prevent major powers, especially China, from exerting too much influence in ASEAN.
Australia and ASEAN will renew their commitment to regional cooperation at a special anniversary summit next month, but it will be important to note that China could permanently complicate the relationship. Related to this, some ASEAN member states, including Malaysia, remain concerned about the future deployment of AUKUS nuclear submarines to counter China. Another policy difference is in the technology sector, with Australia taking a tougher stance on Chinese technology (such as Huawei) than Malaysia and Singapore. Still, the biggest test of the relationship may be the plausible scenario in which regional disputes lead China to apply diplomatic pressure on ASEAN to force Malaysia and Singapore to withdraw from the FPDA.