Guest speech: Ambassador of Malaysia, H.E. Mr. Dato’ M. H. Arshad

As a continuation of the ASEAN guest-lecture series, the IMC Export under the auspices of the Chair for International Law and Global Political Studies, Prof. Dr. Anis Bajrektarevic invited Dato’ M. H. Arshad, Ambassador of Malaysia to Austria, to the IAEA and other Vienna-based IOs.

With the objective to give the IMC students and lecturers an understanding about Malaysia’s past and present geopolitical role in Asia and the rest of the world, Ambassador Arshad accompanied by two officers Mr. I. Salam, Minister Counsellor and Ms. O. Osman, 2nd Secretary centered his discourse on five main points.

“Today we are coming back home. Six years ago when I started with these events, the very first guest lecture was at that time Malaysian Ambassador. It’s my great pleasure to announce that after 60 successful events over past years we are returning to Malaysia today!”, with these words Chairman Bajrektarevic opened today’s guest lecture in the overcrowded PIA hall. Encouraged by warm welcome, Ambassador on his side managed to create a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. This general tone even added to the high quality of Ambassador Arshad’s speech and made this event not only one that will be remembered but also one that will be desired to come again.

H.E. Ambassador Arshad opened his intriguing talk with brief comments on the general situation of Malaysia. He started off mentioning the enormous cultural and religious diversity of his country and its sound economic development during the last 50 years. Ambassador then moved on to explain the changes in Malaysian foreign policy from pro-western anti-communist in the years between 1957-1969 towards non-alignment and neutrality from 1969 onwards.

Following that introduction Ambassador Arshad briefly spoke about social and economic policies that were realized after riots in the 1970s of native Malays, who protested against the ever growing economic power in “non-Malay” hands.

The next point discussed concerned the Austro-Malaysian bilateral relations As stated by our guest this field yet leaves a lot of room for improvements since Austria is a very EU focused country and tends to prioritize its relationship with Europe. However, regular official visits take place and trade between the two countries continues to grow.

With regards to scientific and educational exchange between Malaysia and Austria and the EU, respectively, Mr. Arshad proudly informed the audience that Malaysia has become a new centre of educational excellence, currently with 66,000 foreign students.

The subsequent part of the lecture was entirely devoted to the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s and Ambasador Arshad described its origin in Thailand, the role of foreign exchange speculators and its effects on Malaysia as well as on the rest of Asia. Unlike many other countries in these times of economic downturn, Malaysia did not opt for the IMF way out of the crisis but rather opted for the “unorthodox approach”. This approach basically consisted in taking own measures against the trouble such as fixing the national currency exchange rate, encouraging government spending and the establishment of Danaharta, an investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia entrusted to hold and manage the non-performing loans of banks and commercial assets of the government and to undertake strategic investments.

According to our guest, many lessons were learned due to this crisis and these lessons also will help handling the current financial crisis which is, says Ambassador Arshad, not a global crisis, rather an American induced Wall Street crisis and one that affects all of us because of the global interdependence of countries.

The last part of the content-intensive two-hour lecture was devoted to a question and answer session in which students had the opportunity of addressing issues of specific interest like Singapore-Malaysian bilateral relations (and the water supply issue), disarmament, the situation on the Indian subcontinent, the Iran nuclear issue, etc.

Closing the official part of event with cocktail and family photo, the IMC students had additional opportunity to engage the eloquent and charming Malaysian delegation in substantive conversation in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Although his speech was very comprehensive and substantive in content, His Excellency still managed to create a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. This general tone even added to the high quality of Ambassador Arshad’s speech and made this event not only to be well remembered but also one that will be desired to come soon again.

Summing up after the half-day visit to Krems, Ambassador and his delegation stated that they were very impressed by our faculty’s interest in ASEAN and Asian affairs. The Ambassador also complimented the commitment and knowledge of our students as could be evident throughout the questions and discussion with him.

As a possible follow up Prof. Bajrektarevic and the Ambassador discussed Kuala Lumpur as a venue for the IMC EXP planned focused seminar “Business Focus ASEAN” scheduled for late summer this year.

Besides this memorable event, it is worth of mentioning that the Malaysian Foreign Ministry has honoured the IMC by inviting its professor for a public lecture at the Malaysian Diplomatic Academy (IDFR). Late November 2008, prof. Bajrektarevic has addressed the senior diplomats of Malaysia and ASEAN countries in the Ministry’s historic TREATY ROOM by speaking on the subject of “Diplomacy of Sustainable Development”.

This was the 61st event organized under the auspices of the IL&GPS Chair. The next event falls under the EU Presidency series and is scheduled for Wednesday 25 March, when Prof. Bajrektarevic is hosting the Czech Ambassador HE. Jan Koukal. (PIA, Baroque Hall 09.30-11.00)

Photos: D. Schuler
Text: S. Albrecht (rev. A.B.)