Malaysia engaging BRICS on roadmap to full membership
Malaysia's ambassador to Russia Datuk Cheong Loon Lai said while Malaysia appreciates being accepted as a BRICS partner, there remains no clear framework for what the status entails or how it might lead to full membership.
"We have been inquiring, where exactly do we stand as a partner, as compared to being a member," Cheong said at a press briefing ahead of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's official engagements in Moscow.
"This is something that needs to be sorted out internally by BRICS. In our discussions with them, there has not yet been a defined mechanism on how a partner country would eventually be absorbed as a full member.
"What we understand is that there is a promise, or at least an intention, that partner countries could eventually become full members. But as of now, no mechanism has been defined," he added.
Malaysia officially became a BRICS partner country on Jan 1, 2025, following the 16th BRICS Summit held in Kazan in October 2024.
The status was conferred while Russia was chairing the group, which currently include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The bloc recently expanded to admit new full members and partners, as part of its strategy to strengthen South–South cooperation and challenge Western-dominated multilateral systems.
"We would like to once again extend our thanks to the grouping for accepting us as a partner," Cheong said.
"It's important to note that this was not just a decision by Russia, it is a collective decision of the group. But our entry was formalised (as BRICS partner) when Russia held the chair."
Cheong's comments come as Malaysia seeks to balance its non-aligned foreign policy with deeper economic and strategic ties to rising powers in the Global South.
Anwar had first indicated Malaysia's interest in BRICS in mid-2024, stating that the bloc's goals aligned with Malaysia's push for multipolar engagement and inclusive global governance.
In July 2024, Malaysia formally submitted its expression of interest to join BRICS.
At the Kazan Summit in October, the grouping announced the expansion of its framework to include new "partner countries", with Malaysia among them.
While full membership may be on the horizon, it remains unclear when and how Malaysia will transition from its current BRICS partner status to full membership.
Indonesia became a full BRICS member on Jan 6, 2025, following approval at the Johannesburg Summit in August 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Visa hurdles silence Global South voices at world summits
Sudanese climate activist Roaa should have been leading meetings with other youth advocates at a United Nations (UN) climate conference in Germany in June. Instead, the 24-year-old was at home, having wasted hundreds of dollars and nearly two months preparing for a visa that was denied in less than 48 hours. Many of her peers, mostly from the Global North, flew into the city of Bonn without a hitch. "I was the one who was leading the whole process, but I wasn't on the ground," said Roaa. "Knowing everyone is there (at Bonn), but you are not there maybe because of your nationality gives you a very bad feeling, like I'm less than those people," she said. Stricter border and visa rules are increasingly limiting the participation of nationals from the Global South in high-level talks that tackle climate, global health, economic systems, conflicts and other issues, say researchers. "We are the ones who are affected the most, but we are not in the room," said Roaa, a medical student. "Most of the conferences happen in Europe and in the United States. They are talking on behalf of us." The rejections also have an economic cost. In 2024, Africans paid some €60 million for rejected Schengen visa applications, up from nearly €54 million in 2023, according to analysis by Britain-based research group LAGO Collective. Africa had some of the highest rejection rates from the European Commission, which issues Schengen visas for short visits to the European Union, the data showed. In recent years, far-right and populist parties have made gains in places like Italy, Sweden, Germany and the US, fuelling anti-immigrant policies across Western countries, where most global conferences are held. Nations most vulnerable to climate impacts, from flooding to droughts and rising seas, are often among the poorest, the least polluting and underrepresented at global talks, according to UN climate body, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC, which hosts the Bonn summit and November's COP30 climate conference in Brazil, said it had no sway on visa processes, but had taken steps to diversify participation at its events by boosting the quota for Global South delegates. If those who were expected to implement global policies "are not at the table", it compounded the inequalities they had been campaigning to change, said Nwajiaku-Dahou, director of politics and governance at Britain-based think-tank ODI Global. Despite providing details of her job, university studies, financial accounts and letters of support to attend the UNFCCC summit, Roaa was told she did not submit sufficient evidence to prove she would return home from Germany. Ugandan HIV/AIDS youth advocate Joseph Robert Linda said he secured around US$4,000 from sponsors to pay for flights, visa and hotel fees to attend last year's International AIDS Conference in Munich, only for his visa to be rejected. "That was not fair at all to me because they gave me feedback just three to four days before the conference, so there is no way I could appeal," said the 28-year-old. Although the majority of global diseases occur in poorer countries, where around 80 per cent of the world's population live, only four per cent of health summits were held in these regions, according to a 2021 paper by Harvard Medical School researchers that reviewed more than 100 conferences spanning three decades. Between 1997 and 2019, just 39 per cent of health conferences analysed had attendees from developing countries, said the study published in BMJ Global Health journal. While Linda was able to attend the conference virtually, he said that option required stable and affordable Internet, something not available to people in many parts of the world. Sudanese medical student Saida, who was refused a visa to attend a medical workshop in Italy this month, said it was ultimately up to Global South citizens to keep demanding change. "You have to speak up... This is a pattern that we see happening and that's something that needs to be changed," said Saida.
New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- New Straits Times
BRICS defies Western scepticism, charts reformist path
As BRICS (and now BRICS+) matures into a serious platform for South-South cooperation, Western outlets have doubled down on trivialising its substance to neutralise its appeal. The "division and dysfunction" refrain was predictably trotted out in commentaries about the recent 17th BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Chinese President Xi Jinping's absence, his first since taking office in 2012, was swiftly weaponised. The Guardian called BRICS "unbalanced". CNBC suggested that it lacked cohesion. Al Jazeera framed it as "dispersion". Yet few noted that Premier Li Qiang, China's second-in-command, attended in Xi's place (not a foreign minister, but China's top economic policymaker). Far from symbolic, this signalled sustained high-level commitment. Also overlooked: Indonesia joined BRICS as a full member. Not only is it a major Southeast Asian economy, it is also a G20 member. Hardly a lightweight. This undercuts the narrative of weakening cohesion but raises uncomfortable questions about the cohesion of the West's own institutions. Missing, too, is the fact that BRICS operates by consensus, not coercion. Meanwhile, the economic scaremongering felt equally familiar. United States President Donald Trump's revived tariff threats were deployed to overshadow the BRICS summit, suggesting peril for any country engaging seriously with the bloc. The bloc is provoking the global North, we are told. Never mind that many BRICS members maintain close ties with the West, and that the group's own declarations call for reform within global institutions, not withdrawal from them. Nevertheless, the fundamental truth missed entirely is that BRICS economies are productive economies. They manufacture semiconductors, refine oil, export food and mine rare earths. Their growth is grounded in material reality. By contrast, much of the West's economic weight rests on inflated valuations and speculative finance. A tech stock may be worth billions one week and could collapse the next. The same distortive lens is applied to BRICS declarations. Dismissed as vague or aspirational, these statements are rarely read in full. The 2025 declaration proposed the incubation of a multilateral guarantee mechanism and advanced work on digital settlement interoperability. These are not rhetorical flourishes; they are structural shifts. Even Brazil's sustainability initiative was framed as "vague" and dependent on Northern financing. The implication is clear: the Global South cannot innovate without strings and certainly not without permission. This logic reaches its peak by casting the Global South as perpetually poor, passive or behind. The fact that the BRICS summit hosted over 10 partner countries, including Malaysia, Nigeria and Vietnam, each with distinct development strategies and aspirations, is ignored. That these countries are asserting plural models of cooperation is seen not as maturity, but as risk. Rather than meet this shift with clarity, Western commentary doubles down on old tropes, such as the claim that BRICS is anti-Western. It simply does not hold. The group's foundational ethos is reformist, not revisionist. It seeks a more equitable order — one where sovereignty is respected, trade is not weaponised and conditionalities do not dictate policy. It is not a rival bloc, but a parallel platform complementary to global efforts and anchored in international law. This accusation of politicisation is deeply ironic. BRICS is not held together by ideology or enforced alignment. Its members have different political systems, regional interests and diplomatic postures but have chosen to cooperate. That is not political bloc behaviour but rather pragmatic pluralism. Malaysia's participation in the summit itself offers a striking counterpoint to the Western narrative. Notably, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was the only foreign leader invited to deliver a keynote at the BRICS Business Forum. More than symbolic, his presence sparked a cascade of bilateral engagements — many requested by other nations. Anwar positioned Malaysia as a bridge between East and West, showcasing the bloc's appeal as a platform for pragmatic diplomacy, not polarised alignment. In truth, BRICS is doing what the West once claimed to champion: empowering developing nations to co-shape the rules of global engagement. Its institutional growth is real, from think tank networks to cross-border infrastructure platforms. Its financial architecture is maturing. The West's critique of BRICS says less about BRICS itself, and more about its own anxiety over declining influence. The writer is the founder of think tank EMIR Research
Malay Mail
18 hours ago
- Malay Mail
China says exports reflect demand, not bid for world market dominance
BEIJING, July 20 — China is not seeking to dominate global markets, Vice Finance Minister Liao Min said on Friday while defending the country's trade practices during a G-20 gathering near Durban, South Africa. He said most of China's production serves domestic demand, with exports only responding to overseas needs and not part of a wider strategy to flood foreign markets, Bloomberg reported. Liao said China's recent economic performance, including 5.3 per cent growth in the first half of the year, contributes stability at a time when global markets face uncertainty. 'China's certainty and stability are the greatest contributions it makes to the world today,' Liao said, stressing the country's shift toward a consumption-led economy. He noted that 86.4 per cent of China's growth came from domestic demand and that consumption alone drove an average of 56.2 per cent of GDP gains over the past four years. The government is continuing to promote consumption through measures such as 300 billion yuan in special sovereign bonds aimed at boosting sales of electronics, home appliances and cars. China recorded a goods-trade surplus of about US$586 billion (RM2.5 trillion) in the first half of 2025, partly due to exporters accelerating shipments amid fears of new US tariffs. While this export momentum may slow later in the year, economists believe China could still post a record annual surplus exceeding US$1 trillion. Liao argued that China's current-account surplus stood at 2.2 per cent last year, a figure he called globally reasonable and not indicative of excessive trade dominance. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has accused China of extreme trade imbalances and suggested the country is trying to export its way out of a property crisis. Liao rejected overcapacity claims as oversimplified, saying large market share in some sectors does not prove China is distorting global trade. He also voiced strong support for multilateralism and praised the G-20 finance ministers' joint communique, calling it a sign of continued global cooperation despite trade tensions.
