Initially named the Bureau of Security and
Foreign Policy Studies, the Bureau of Foreign Policy and
Security Studies was established to provide timely and relevant
policy analyses in those areas affecting Malaysia’s
comprehensive strategic interests. The Bureau seeks to foster
greater insight, understanding and discourse through its
research, networking and outreach activities and actively
promotes, and engages in, ‘track two’ diplomacy with partners
from within and outside the region.
The Bureau’s activities revolve around three
major components:
Substantive research and analysis to
form the basis of policy recommendations;
The provision of information avenues for
exchange and dialogue through the organization of
conferences, colloquia, fora, lectures and seminars; and
Inter- and intra-regional networking
through the ‘track two’ process.
The
Asia-Pacific Roundtable (APR)
The Bureau has also hosted the Asia-Pacific Roundtable series
since its launch in 1987 to promote trust and confidence in the
Asia-Pacific region. As a Track Two forum, the APR brings
together think tanks, academics, media representatives and
senior government officials acting in their personal capacity to
engage in candid dialogue regarding the major security
challenges confronting the region. Over the past two decades,
the APR has gained a reputation as the premier Track Two forum
in the region, bringing together over 250 participants and
observers to its recent annual conferences.
The APR has consistently viewed security as comprehensive in
nature, encompassing critical threats to human well-being and
livelihood in the political, economic, social, environmental and
conventional security areas. The APR agenda therefore includes
such disparate topics as, among others, arms races,
globalisation, human rights, maritime security, transnational
crime and terrorism.
The APR has received the consistent and unwavering patronage of
successive Prime Ministers, Deputy Prime Ministers and Foreign
Ministers of Malaysia. Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi,
the present Prime Minister of Malaysia, and his predecessor, Tun
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, have delivered the bulk of the keynote
addresses at the APR since its inception. This support from the
highest levels of leadership has added stature and substance to
the Roundtable process.
The APR is a project of the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and
International Studies (ASEAN-ISIS), with ISIS Malaysia as the
anchor institution for the convening the conference. Since 1993,
the convening of the APR has been made possible by the support
of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The 21st Asia-Pacific Roundtable will be convened in June 2007.
ISIS Malaysia is the leading
institution for the Malaysian committee of the Council for
Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP). CSCAP is a
Track Two process which aims to mirror the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF). Representatives from CSCAP's 21 Member Committees from
across Asia, Europe and North America take part in
policy-oriented discussions in its Study Groups, which cover
issues such as energy security, human trafficking and
peacekeeping. CSCAP Malaysia also acts as the CSCAP Secretariat.
ISIS International Affairs Forum
The ISIS International Affairs Forum invites
experts and distinguished individuals from all over the world to
give talks and present their views. Past speakers have included
the Seyyed Mohamed Khatami, former president of the Islamic
Republic of Iran; Nelson Mandela, former president of the
Republic of South Africa; Henry Kissinger, former secretary of
state of the United States of America, and Jeffrey D Sachs,
special advisor to the United Nations secretary-general. Details
of recent events and speakers are updated on the main page.
In recent months, the Bureau has organised,
or participated in, various events:
Workshop on ‘Building Bridges – Engaging
Civil Society from OIC Countries and Other Muslim
Communities with the Multilateral Sphere’, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, 16–18 January , 2006
U.S.-Islamic World Forum, Doha, Qatar,
18–20 February, 2006
Ford Project on Non-Traditional Security
in Asia: 3rd Regional Plenary Meeting of the Ford Grantees,
2-3 March, 2006
Pacific Forum-CSIS Young Leaders
Programme, Singapore, 24-25 March, 2006
3rd Meeting of the CSCAP Study Group on
Countering the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction
in the Asia Pacific, Singapore, 26-27 March, 2006
British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (BMCC)
and the Oxford & Cambridge Society Joint Networking, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, 25 April, 2006 View Paper:
Security Outlook for the Asia-Pacific
Region by Dato’ Seri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Chairman & CEO,
ISIS Malaysia
The Thirteenth ASEAN-ISIS Colloquium on
Human Rights: Human Rights Promotion in the ASEAN Security
Community, Manila, Philippines, 15 – 16 May, 2006
Conference on “US Military
Transformation”, Tokyo, Japan, 24-25 May, 2006
View Paper: Implications of Those Transformations
for Southeast Asia by Dr. Stephen Leong, Assistant
Director-General, ISIS Malaysia
CSCAP Study Group on Capacity Building
for Maritime Security Cooperation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
27–28 May, 2006
International Conference on Human
Security: Advancing Human Security, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia,
13-14 June, 2006
ASEAN Regional Forum: The First Plenary
Meeting of Experts and Eminent Persons, Jeju Island,
Republic of Korea, 29-30 June 2006
View Paper: Security Environment in Southeast
Asia by Dato’ Seri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Chairman & CEO,
ISIS Malaysia
“Media in Asia: Aspirations, Choices and
Realities”, AMIC Annual Conference, Penang, Malaysia, 17-20
July, 2006
View Paper: Media and the Promotion of Peace and
Reconciliation: A Challenge Unmet by Dato’ Seri Mohamed
Jawhar Hassan, Chairman & CEO, ISIS Malaysia
ASEAN Roundtable 2006: Revisiting the
Bali Concord II, Singapore, 24-25 August, 2006
View Paper: The ASEAN Security Community by Dato’
Seri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Chairman & CEO, ISIS Malaysia
5th Japan-ASEAN Dialogue, Tokyo, Japan,
7-8 September, 2006
View Paper: State of East Asian Community Concept
and ASEAN Integration by Dato’ Seri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan,
Chairman & CEO, ISIS Malaysia
Conference on “The Emerging Political
Map of Asia”, Islamabad, Pakistan, 21-22 September, 2006
View Paper: The Growing Importance of the
Non-Arab World within the OIC: Case Study of Malaysia and
Indonesia by Dato’ Mohd Ridzam Deva, Distinguished Fellow,
ISIS Malaysia.
High-Level Seminar on China-ASEAN
Relations, Beijing, China, 23-24 September, 2006
View Paper: China-ASEAN Partnership: Goals,
Roadmap and Prospects by Dr. Stephen Leong, Assistant
Director-General, ISIS Malaysia
