Beyond religious affinity: Malaysia's relations with countries in the Arab Gulf

Abstract

Economic and political changes at the global level have simultaneously shifted Malaysia's interests in the Arab Gulf countries. The economic liberalisation and transformation agenda that emerged in these economies are argued to be contributing factors to Malaysia's interest in expanding its economic relationships with the countries. Although the current cooperation between Malaysia and the Arab Gulf countries is aimed at reaping economic benefits, religious values also constitute an important foundation for these relationships. This article seeks to understand why politics, economics and religion remain the key drivers in determining Malaysia's relations with the Arab Gulf countries. The paper also suggests a future direction for engagement between Malaysia and Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

Keywords:

• Malaysia
• Arab Gulf
• political economy
• religion
• international relations

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank readers from American Journal Experts for their perspective, stimulating and encouraging comments on earlier draft. We also thank Professor Tim Niblock and Professor Mehmet Asutay for their comments, support and encouragement while preparing this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. ‘Bumiputra’ means ‘son of earth’ or ‘son of soil’. It is an indigenous element in the Malaysian constitution. If a parent is a Malay and practises Islam or Bumiputera (aborigines/indigenous for Sabah and Sarawak), then his or her children are Bumiputeras.

2. Sukuk is an asset-based Islamic bond that is structured according to Shariah principles.

3. The Khazanah Nasional is a government-owned investment organisation that manages the sovereign wealth fund.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE), Fundamental Research Grant Scheme [4F219].