Q&A: Türkiye-Malaysia relations ‘are moving in a positive direction’

Türkiye and Malaysia have had ever-strengthening ties since they established diplomatic relations in 1964. With a mutual stance on a wide range of regional and global issues, Türkiye and Malaysia advanced their close cooperation into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in July this year.

Beyond political and cultural relations, Türkiye and Malaysia also have exemplary economic ties. Bilateral trade volume between the two countries exceeded $3.5 billion in 2021. And this September, they signed a protocol expanding their bilateral Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in 2014 as the first FTA between Türkiye and an ASEAN member.

TRT World: As a Consul General, where do Türkiye-Malaysia relations stand at this stage, especially when it comes to economic and cultural cooperation?

CONSUL GENERAL DZARAIF: Türkiye bilateral relations are at their highest level as of today, with the State Visit of our King Al Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al Mustafa Billah Shah to Türkiye in August taking bilateral ties to new heights. In 2014, the two countries reached the level of strategic partnership. And very recently, during the visit of our Prime Minister to Türkiye, that strategic partnership was upgraded to a new level of 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’.

I am pleased to share that many things are moving in a positive direction when it comes to increasing economic and cultural cooperation. To strengthen bilateral trade, for example, Malaysia and Türkiye signed a Joint Declaration on The Expansion of the Free Trade Agreement between the two governments to reinforce the mandate in pursuing the expansion of the agreement to include chapters on services, investment and e-commerce on 29th September 2022. I believe that there is plenty of room for relations on the economic and cultural front to grow.

Post Covid-19 pandemic trade figures between Malaysia and Türkiye have increased significantly. In 2021, Malaysia’s total trade with Türkiye increased by 74.5 percent to $4.10 billion from $2.32 billion in 2020. Total exports increased by 82.9 percent to $3.41 billion from $1.85 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, total imports from Türkiye increased by 42 percent to $0.69 billion from $0.48 billion in 2020. Our target is to reach $5 billion trade by the year 2024.

Culturally, I think Malaysians are more exposed to and familiar of Turkish culture, this is due to Türkiye’s most successful cultural export, the world-renowned TV series Dirilis Ertugrul. Apart from that, historically the Ottoman Caliphate had ties with Southeast Asia, and all of this has created interest for Malaysians to visit Türkiye. Almost 200,000 Malaysian tourists visited Türkiye every year and each of them had learnt the history, culture, and language of this beautiful country. Tourism is the best tool for cultural exchange and its thriving. At this moment Turkish Airlines fly 10 times a week to Kuala Lumpur, and hopefully next year AirAsiaX will start their service to Istanbul via Sabiha Gokcen International Airport 4 times a week.

Personally, I feel that Malaysia needs to do more in promoting our culture here. The understanding of each other’s way of doing things may lead to further interest for collaboration in other areas. Hence, strengthening the people-to-people relationship between the two countries. It is our plan to organise a Malaysian Cultural Week in Istanbul next year, with support from the Malaysian diaspora and the government of Malaysia and Türkiye.

In what areas are the two countries working to strengthen people-to-people contact between Türkiye and Malaysia?

CGD: I believe people-to-people relations or contact is the most important element in strengthening relations between two countries. One of the areas that can increase people-people contact is tourism. In fact, tourism is the catalyst of political, economic and educational interactions between nations. It is through people-to-people exchanges and visits that friendships are forged, discoveries are made, and the seeds of awareness and understanding are sowed.

Another aspect that has been among our focus areas in improving people-to-people relations is education. There are more than 400 Malaysian students currently studying in Türkiye and more than several thousands have completed their studies and gone back to Malaysia. There are also around 200 Turkish students studying in Malaysia. These students, when they returned to their country, will be our ‘spokesperson’, sharing their experience of their life abroad, and opening up new ways and channels of future collaboration.

Malaysia has taken a significant step in increasing the number of Malaysian students in Türkiye. As of now, we are grateful to the Government of Türkiye for their scholarships to our students. But since our Malaysian Qualification Agency has recognised all degrees offered by 208 higher educational institutions listed by Türkiye's Council of Higher Education (YOK), we expect more Malaysian students will come to Türkiye to further their studies, and more parties in Malaysia will consider offering scholarships for Malaysian students studying in Türkiye.

Prior to your posting in Istanbul, you represented your country at the United Nations in New York. What is your perspective on the future of Muslim-majority countries, especially at a time when Islamophobia is on the rise all over the world?

CGD: Based on my little experience in multilateral diplomacy, the keyword to tackle Islamophobia is ‘unity’. There is no one Muslim country that can tackle all issues in the world alone. Each has its own advantages and each rely on others too. The differences will always be there, but efforts to find a common understanding between nations have to always continue no matter what. A Malay proverb says ‘Carik-carik bulu ayam, akhirnya bercantum juga’, which loosely means Muslims, no matter how huge the difference or confrontations or disagreements, will one day unite, because we are all brothers and sisters.    

What the Muslim world needs in order to tackle Islamophobia is to be able to control the global narratives. How to do this? We need great Muslim leaders to speak on our behalf, we need our own media powerhouse to amplify the message to the rest of the world, and we need to show the best example of Islam by projecting the real teachings of Islam in our daily way of life. If each Muslim does their part, we can be a good example to the world.

Without a Muslim country as one of the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, we will be handicapped. But, as a bloc, our voice can be as loud and as clear in any international fora.

Like Türkiye, Malaysia's geographical location is unique — it's seen as a gateway to Southeast Asia but that factor also brings some risks and complications. How does Malaysia approach the increasing tensions in the Pacific region?

CGD: Malaysia’s foreign policy is hallmarked by the principles of national sovereignty and non-interference. We use these two principles combined with pragmatism to guide our actions and direction as a country. In other words, we do not take sides and maintain friendly relations with most countries and are open to cooperation on many fronts: education, trade and investment, and culture to mention a few.

We took lead in pushing the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone. We played our role actively in ASEAN based on the principle of peaceful conflict resolution. We are the mediator for the regional conflicts’ negotiations. We are a trading nation, we are friendly to all countries. We always seek stability and prosperity, not just in Malaysia, but for the whole region.

Since Malaysia has maintained strong trade relations with China, is the ongoing US-China trade war affecting Malaysia in any way?

CGD: Of course it does. It’s not just us, it affects the whole world. China and the US are the two most important countries for Malaysia, especially in terms of trade. China is Malaysia’s largest trading partner (total trade of $95 billion in 2021) and the US is ranked as Malaysia’s third biggest trading partner (total trade of $49 billion in 2021). Therefore, Malaysia always maintains stronger economic ties with both Beijing and Washington to increase our exports to the two largest economies. As a trading nation, Malaysia continues to engage in important and strategic trade relations with both countries and other countries too for our continued progress and benefit.

While the two major powers may still have many disagreements, continuous high-level engagements between Washington and Beijing would present a better opportunity for both sides to responsibly manage competition and avoid misunderstandings that could further escalate the US-China conflict. Malaysia, as a non-aligned country, nonetheless will maintain friendly and balanced relations with all.

How is Malaysia figuring in the US-China tussle over the semiconductors?

CGD: Ever since Malaysia shifted our focus to high technology investment several decades ago, we had received quite significant investment from many multinational companies especially setting up manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, including semiconductors. Some of the biggest names are Intel and Silterra. However, as we are all aware, semiconductor and microchip manufacturing involves several delicate processes and requires a certain ecosystem of supply chain before the final products are completed. The manufacturing facilities in Malaysia are good in foundry and testing, which is a part of front-end and back-end processes in producing microchips.

We all know clearly that the US is trying to curb China’s capability to produce and control the semiconductor industry outright. Malaysian manufacturers were also impacted when the global supply-chain was disrupted during the pandemic. The recent development has raised some uncertainty in the industry that has for many years contributed to our trade with China, US, Taiwan and South Korea. Based on our understanding, Samsung will be most badly affected by the effort of the US due to many of their manufacturing facilities being located in China. If they needed to be relocated elsewhere, we would be open to the idea of them setting up more facilities in Malaysia.

The Islamic-themed Omar and Hana cartoon series is really popular. How is Malaysia trying to project its soft power in other countries?

CGD: Malaysia’s soft power is based on, and reflects the teachings of Islam and noble values from the Malay culture and Malaysian society in general. The Omar and Hana series allows for the religious, social and cultural values of Malaysia to be exposed and transferred to the viewers such as respect, appreciation, kindness, believing in One God, maintaining good relations and being thankful.

Malaysia uses this soft power as a way to communicate and spread awareness to the world of its good image and how it can modernise and progress without losing touch with its legacy of tolerance and peace. Malaysia’s modern governance co-exists with the religion of Islam and other religions in the country peacefully and successfully. We hope that this can serve as a good example for other nations with diversity to achieve such balance.

[NOTE: The viewpoints expressed by the Consul General do not reflect the official position of the government of Malaysia.]