Malaysia and Indonesia in the Middle East
THE DIPLOMAT
In recent weeks Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar visited Tukey, Qatar, and Iran to shore up support in the Muslim world. Meanwhile, the UAE announced that it would invest $10 billion in Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Such news are just the latest points of contact between these two Southeast Asian states and the Middle East. But what is the nature of these two countries’ relations with the region more generally? What challenges do states like Indonesia and Malaysia face when operating in an environment that has become increasingly turbulent and multipolar, especially in the decade since the Arab uprisings in 2011?
