By Netty Ismail, Kok Leong Chan, Ram Anand and Philip J. Heijmans
(Bloomberg) – From the moment US President Donald Trump stepped off the plane in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, it was clear that he and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim shared a rapport.
The two smiled and shook hands on the tarmac before the American president briefly boogied with local performers. The crowd cheered as he waved American and Malaysian flags, before getting into a car together – breaking protocol – where Prime Minister Anwar lobbied for lasting peace in Gaza.
“I am delighted, truly President, to hear from you personally, how determined you are to ensure that peace is achieved in the most intractable areas – almost impossible, but you did it,” Anwar said, softening his tone on an issue he has been vocal on.
For his pains, Anwar will walk away with a trade deal that other nations have spent months negotiating for in Washington. Malaysia and the US upgraded ties to the highest rung possible, and the two sides pledged to deepen maritime security cooperation at a time when the US and China are competing for influence across the region.
His push to make capital Kuala Lumpur a venue for dialog between competing powers lent an unusual weight to a Southeast Asian bloc’s summit that for decades was largely a ceremonial showcase of regional unity. Trump’s presence at the gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations over the weekend also led to a flurry of agreements on tariffs and critical minerals and the signing of a peace accord between Cambodia and Thailand, which Trump set as a condition for attending the regional summit as he looks to bolster his case to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
“I told the leader of Malaysia, who’s a very good man, I said, I think I owe you a trip,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One before arriving in Malaysia. He relished the pomp of his welcome ceremony, dancing to the beat of drums on the airport tarmac.
Local media also largely portrayed Anwar’s hosting of the event as a showcase of Malaysia’s diplomatic resurgence, calling it a moment of renewed regional leadership and proof of the nation’s growing stature as a bridge between East and West.
Opposition leaders however were critical, with the secretary-general of the Islamic party, which holds the most seats in parliament, saying the grand welcome for Trump was excessive and “akin to pouring salt on the still-bleeding wounds of Gazans.”
Beyond Trump, the rare presence of leaders from around the world – including Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney – raised Malaysia’s visibility and bolstered a reputation that has been slowly on the mend.
To be sure, not all invitations were successful. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t show – likely to avoid awkwardness with Trump over the war in Ukraine.
While critics accuse the 78-year-old of watering down anti-graft pledges and cutting deals with entrenched elites to secure his majority, Anwar has steadily tightened his grip on power, bringing a measure of political stability after decades of revolving-door governments and coalition infighting.
For years, Malaysia was seen as one of the more stable and less corrupt countries in Southeast Asia, until the eruption of the multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal. The fallout led to the defeat of then-prime minister, who was later jailed, and the fall of a coalition that had ruled since independence.
A succession of short-lived administrations followed, raising doubts about the government’s policies and scaring off some investors. Then in 2022, Anwar, who first rose to prominence as a pro-market finance minister back in the 1990s before being jailed under what he derided as concocted charges, completed a dramatic comeback by becoming premier.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, has both managed a difficult year as chair of Asean and helped Malaysia’s economy thrive despite Trump’s tariffs. Along the way, he earned the reputation of being a strong leader in Southeast Asia, Adib Zalkapli, founder of the geopolitical consultancy Viewfinder Global Affairs, said.
“In international politics it’s important to be seen as a neutral ground and an honest broker,” Adib said of Anwar.
The question is whether Malaysia can rise to the ranks of Singapore and Qatar, seen as trusted venues for statecraft.
Tensions still simmered in Kuala Lumpur. Carney offered a terse response to Trump’s promise to further hike tariffs on Canadian goods. In his opening remarks to the summit, Carney pointed to his goal of diversifying Canada’s trade away from the US, and citing his government’s quest for a free trade deal with the Asean bloc as a prime example.
Anwar has also had to walk a fine line between speaking up for Palestine and not offending the US, Israel’s closest ally. There have been frequent protests against the war in Gaza and he faced pressure from Malaysia’s Muslim-majority population to rescind his invitation to Trump, even as the US leader helped broker a ceasefire in the conflict. Protesters gathered at the historic Merdeka Square about five miles away from the Asean gathering on Sunday.
The issue failed to disrupt the meeting, and Anwar and Trump agreed to elevate their two countries’ relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Anwar did criticize the situation in Gaza – only once Trump was on a plane to Japan.
Still, even in his wilderness years, Anwar showed a knack for maintaining important connections, including former US Vice President Al Gore and former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. And since coming to power almost three years ago, his frequent travels – from Washington to Rio de Janeiro and Beijing – have built connections with a diverse array of leaders.
He also appears to have deftly handled Trump, whose history of summitry includes undercutting the Group of Seven and criticising the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“Diplomats and trade negotiators often lament that dealing with the US is no longer grounded in clear, rules-based frameworks,” said Azizul Amiludin, a senior non-resident fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research. “Anwar demonstrated that in the absence of such rules, interpersonal skill and political intuition can be the most effective tools of diplomacy.”
Anwar’s own journey – from political prisoner to prime minister – has probably added moral weight to his diplomacy, even as his government has been criticised for apparently seeking revenge on his old enemies. During his years behind bars on charges he said were politically motivated, he read the Bible “every other day” besides the Quran. One of the books he said sustained him was Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.
The Malaysian premier on Sunday quipped during the signing of the Thailand-Cambodia peace accord that he and Trump “shared a lot in common,” including the fact that the Malaysian leader had been to prison, and the other “almost got there.”
“You need somebody that can actually build relationships,” said Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, the managing director of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. “There aren’t that many in this world, so we’re very, very proud of him.”
