Where is the Brunei-Malaysia Defense Relationship Headed in 2019?

In mid-February, Brunei and Malaysia convened this year’s iteration of their regular joint defense working committee meeting. The engagement provided a sense of how both Southeast Asian countries are looking to boost their defense ties amid wider domestic and regional changes and challenges.

Malaysia and Brunei, two fellow Southeast Asian states with long historical and cultural links and a common land border, share a defense relationship as part of broader contemporary bilateral ties that date back to when Brunei got its independence from Britain in 1984. Though both sides have some differences over key issues, including boundaries and borders, they have continued to cultivate security ties over the years.

Institutionally speaking, the defense relationship was formalized via the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation back in 1992. Defense collaboration between the two countries has grown since to include a variety of interactions including exchanges, visits, joint military exercises, trainings, and courses. The two sides also have developed a number of mechanisms that undergird their ties, including the regular Joint Defense Working Committee (JDWC) first convened in July 1993 following the signing of the MOU in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

The cultivation of defense ties has continued over the past year amid some domestic changes on both sides, which have affected their defense policies. These include the shock election victory by Malaysia’s opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) in May 2018, which saw former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s return to the premiership and major uncertainties over the future direction of defense policy. In Brunei, some domestic reshuffling of key political and defense-related positions in 2018 are important as the leadership also looks to stimulate more domestic reform.

Engagement by the two countries in this changing context, including on the defense side, got off to a brisk start with Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah making a personal visit to Malaysia to congratulate Mahathir following his assumption of the premiership in May 2018. The visit happened even before the Malaysian government had been formed. And while coverage of Mahathir’s visit to Brunei in September 2018 was dominated by economic issues, Malaysian officials also indicated that they looked to address some more troubling areas of the relationship touching on security matters such as cross-border crimes, as well as the South China Sea disputes where both countries are claimant states. 

2019 has seen greater signs of the two sides looking to further develop defense ties amid these changes. This was on display in January with Malaysian Defense Minister Mohammad Sabu’s (popularly known as Mat Sabu) introductory visit to Brunei. Mat Sabu’s visit saw both sides discuss ways to advance security relations through different bilateral and multilateral platforms. Though no specifics were unveiled, there was mention about strengthening existing links between the defense and military institutions of the two countries and references made to regional and global operations both countries participate in, be it in the southern Philippines or UN forces in Lebanon.

The 19th iteration of the Joint Defense Working Committee (JDWC) meeting in mid-February also provided some sense of where both countries were headed in their defense ties. The meeting, held in Kuching in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, was co-chaired by Dato Halimi bin Abd Manaf, the secretary general of Malaysia’s defense ministry, and Dato Paduka Abd Rahman bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar, the permanent secretary of Brunei’s defense ministry.

The JWDC meeting saw both sides reviewing the current state of defense ties as well as identifying aspects of military collaboration. While few specifics were publicly disclosed about the private deliberations, Brunei’s defense ministry said that the areas included exchanges and interactions between their junior officers as well as other elements of bilateral defense ties such as dialogues.

One official familiar with the deliberations also said that the two sides had discussed some ways in which they could enhance other aspects of defense ties, such as exercises, which have been a longstanding part of their engagement. They also shared experiences on common domestic, regional, and global challenges that both countries are facing, though details were not disclosed by either of the countries’ official accounts of the meeting.

To be sure, there are still a number of uncertainties that remain as both sides seek to continue to cultivate their defense ties over the next few years. It is still early days in the new Malaysian government, with little overall direction in terms of defense policy, while Brunei itself is still finding its feet after the domestic reshuffles that occurred last year. It also bears noting that despite both sides trying to further develop their defense ties, they still have a number of outstanding bilateral issues that they have yet to resolve, including on the security side. Nonetheless, as 2019 proceeds, how Malaysia and Brunei look to continue to manage the opportunities and challenges in their defense relationship will continue to be interesting to watch.