BRICS 2025: Anwar presents civilisational diplomacy

New Straits Times

09-07-2025

AS global trust in traditional institutions wanes and multipolarity gains traction, Malaysia's presence at the BRICS 2025 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, offers more than technical policy advocacy — it signals the emergence of a new diplomatic ethos.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim positions Malaysia not just as a participant in international affairs, but as a civilisational bridge committed to narrative sovereignty and moral multilateralism.
Malaysia's participation epitomises a comprehensive and justice-oriented worldview, promoting a civilisational diplomacy where ethics, history, and plural values shape responses to global crises.
The endorsement of the BRICS Partnership for the Elimination of Socially Determined Diseases, for instance, reimagines public health beyond biomedical metrics.
It recognises the structural roots of inequality, linking access to care with ontological dignity and social justice.
Malaysia's emphasis on resilient health systems, vaccine equity, and pharmaceutical supply chain governance elevates health diplomacy to the level of international security.
In calling for equitable regulation, Malaysia reframes access to care as a sovereign right, countering the paternalism that often defines North-South health frameworks.
On climate, Malaysia reinforces its commitment to a just transition via the National Energy Transition Roadmap and a 2050 net-zero target.
Yet the crux of its intervention lies in its critique of the global climate finance architecture. Malaysia supports the BRICS Framework on Climate Financing, but demands more effective instruments, concessional equity, and institutional coherence.
Malaysia calls for justice that is actionable, not aspirational. As Asean Chair, it drives regional alignment in climate action, positioning Southeast Asia as a sustainable investment hub with narrative depth.
At the heart of Malaysia's foreign policy reorientation is the Anwar Doctrine — a proposition that diplomacy must transcend power balances and embrace civilisational ethics.
Anwar's critique of post-World War II institutions is not anti-Western, but post-hegemonic, seeking to rebalance global legitimacy, amplify plural worldviews, and assert narrative agency for the Global South.
Our role in BRICS+ is to bridge East and West. Central to the Anwar Doctrine is the principle of narrative sovereignty.
Malaysia affirms the Global South's right to define key terms — "development," "security," "democracy" — beyond metropolitan epistemologies.
In proposing initiatives like the Global South Narrative Summit and a Digital Bandung Initiative, Malaysia seeks to reconstitute discursive legitimacy and ontological agency.
These ambitions need institutional scaffolding. With its 2025 Asean Chairmanship and growing BRICS engagement, Malaysia is uniquely positioned to institutionalise this vision.
Hosting a Global South Narrative Summit in Kuala Lumpur would give voice to storytellers, scholars, and diplomats committed to reshaping global discourse.
A Digital Bandung Initiative could reclaim online domains for Southern epistemologies. Furthermore, a UN resolution on narrative sovereignty would substantiate the prerogative of nations to articulate their own epistemic identities.
The Anwar Doctrine is not a nostalgic return to non-alignment — it is a forward-looking strategy for narrative alignment across geopolitical and digital frontiers.
In an era marked by complexity and epistemic turbulence, Malaysia embraces post-normal diplomacy. It acknowledges plural truths, navigates uncertainty, and engages historical repair.
Through the Anwar Doctrine, Malaysia moves from mere participation to narrative leadership—offering not just policy, but philosophy; not just critique, but coherence.
BRICS 2025 marks a turning point in Malaysia's diplomatic trajectory. It is no longer a spectator in global forums but a co-author of shared futures.
Through the Anwar Doctrine, Malaysia transforms multilateralism into a moral stage, positioning the Global South not as a reactive bloc, but as a chorus of civilisational voices reclaiming meaning, dignity, and justice.
This is not just Malaysia's moment — it is the emergence of a global collective in which Malaysia plays both conductor and composer.