Step aside, Trump; let PMX take home the Nobel Peace Prize for keeping ASEAN intact

Focus Malaysia

2 days ago

CAMBODIA and Thailand have agreed to stop their border war but who was responsible for bringing the quarrelling neighbours to the negotiating table: the US or Malaysia?
It appears that US President Donald Trump is stealing the thunder from Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who was directly involved in hammering out a peace deal.
Anwar mediated the talks between the warring parties in Putrajaya in his capacity as ASEAN chairman and it must be said that he passed his first test at diplomacy.
But the US – being a superpower – will not allow a minnow like Malaysia to overshadow its dominance on the world stage.
Trump the political maverick never misses a chance to grab the limelight on any global issues and is not shy to take credit for work largely done by others.
Now he proclaims himself the 'president of peace' for halting hostilities between these two Asean members and 'saving thousands of lives'.
'Weaponising tariffs'
Trump makes it looks as if Cambodia and Thailand are on the verge of a full-scale war and only US intervention as peace-broker can avert such disaster.
By his reckoning, only the US has the clout, power and prestige to bend nations to its will and dictates. All other nations can just be bystanders and watch how Washington waxes its muscles.
Malaysia, however, is not a bystander but an active player in the peace talks. The ceasefire deal was sealed in the Prime Minister's Office and not in Trump's Oval Office.
Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet didn't fly over to Washington but merely crossed over the border to Malaysia to meet Anwar and bury the hatchet at least for now.
Nevertheless, the US was also the co-organiser of the talk with China acting as an observer.
US Ambassador to Malaysia Edgard Kagan and Chinese Ambassador Ouyang Yujing were present in Putrajaya to witness the ASEAN leaders clasping their hands on the agreement.
Trump did talk to the Thai and Cambodian leaders over the phone to goad them into ending the conflict.
But one suspects that the tariff factor also played a big role in persuading the combatants to choose the path of peace.
With Thailand and Cambodia each facing a stiff tariff of 36% on their goods entering the US, the cessation of hostilities would perhaps soften the US stance and might even result in a lower tariff for both countries as a reward for peace.
Trump might have wielded the tariff weapon to get Bangkok and Phnom Penh to hasten to the table or they might face the Oval Office treatment by remote control with Trump berating them for ignoring his call for peace and perhaps threatening them with trade sanctions.
Why is Russia-Ukraine still at war?
The dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is in reality a 'family affair' and could be settled in the spirit of ASEAN friendliness and neighbourliness. There is no need for Trump to poke his nose in and act as the 'policeman' of the world.
If there is one corner of the globe that urgently needs Trump's undivided attention, it's in Ukraine.
So far, Trump has failed miserably to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table despite his vaunted boast of settling the war promptly upon regaining the White House.
The Thailand-Cambodian border clashes cannot compare with the horrors on the Ukranian battlefields. The toll of the dead is still mounting with more than one million Russians and over 100,000 Ukraine soldiers killed so far.
Unlike the ASEAN conflict, this vicious war has the potential of morphing into a Third World War with unimaginable consequences given that nuclear weapons of mass destruction could be used by Russia.
So, President Trump, let ASEAN take care of its own business and you see to it that Putin doesn't start another world war that can wipe out even your country from the map of the world.
Your press secretary Karoline Leavitt praised you sky-high for ending the Thailand-Cambodia conflict – a feat she claimed should earn you the Nobel Peace Prize.
No, Sir, you don't deserve that coveted prize for just ending an ASEAN border conflict while you are unable to extinguish the conflagration engulfing Eastern Europe.
So, Mr President, step aside and let Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian Prime Minister, take home the Nobel Peace Prize for keeping ASEAN intact, united and safe. – July 31, 2025
Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image credit: Anwar Ibrahim. Facebook