President Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Meet for the First Time
Since his shocking win in a fiercely contested poll in May, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad met for the first time Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on July 16. The specifics of the meeting weren’t disclosed but there are some insight on how the relations between these two Southeast Asian states will go moving forward.
As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), both Malaysia and the Philippines have already worked together to deal with traditional and non-traditional threats such as terrorism, illegal fishing, and piracy.
This healthy relationship has continued in recent years despite periodic irritants like the Lahad Datu Incident in 2013 where over 200 descendants of the sultanate attempting to assert the Philippine claim to Sabah, leaving dozens of militants, civilians and Malaysian security forces dead.
The focus now, however, is how the interaction between Mahathir and President Rodrigo Duterte will go, which could ultimately determine the relationship between the two ASEAN countries.
Duterte was in Malaysia from July 14 to 16. He had a chance to visit Mahathir in his office in Putrajaya to discuss bilateral relationship and also watch the boxing match of Manny Pacquiao, who is also a senator in the Philippines.
Before the meeting, many speculated that the Sabah issue will be raised by Duterte. This is due to the comments he made back in 2016 where he seemed to recognize the claim of the sultanate of Sulu. The meeting, however, was done in a warm and constructive manner according to the public accounts of Malaysian and Philippine officials. Both leaders appeared to have reinforced the longstanding relationship between the two countries.
The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the security and defense within the bilateral relationship as well as the geopolitical issues in the region. Other important issues tackled in the meeting between Duterte and Mahathir were terrorism and violent extremism, illegal drugs, piracy in the high seas, and transnational crime. The Philippine president also expressed his appreciation for Malaysia’s support for peace and development in the southern Philippines.
When it comes to future plans for both sides, there were no additional specifics disclosed, which can be expected since this was the first time that both leaders met. In the coming months, however, there are lots of issues they can work on together like terrorism and building out bilateral cooperation in the Sulu Sea.
via The Diplomat / Prashanth Parameswaran
