Commentary: How will joining BRICS benefit Malaysia?

HOBART, Australia: There was a lot of excitement in foreign policy circles when Malaysia announced recently that it is seeking membership of the BRICS economic bloc.

BRICS - an intergovernmental organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and as of 2024, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates - has been getting a lot of attention in recent years as the global landscape moves away from a United States-led international order.

For decades, Malaysia’s foreign policy planks were the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Some commentators have said that joining BRICS will pave the way for Malaysia to gain greater economic opportunities, given that there are 1.6 million individuals with investable assets of over US$1 million in the grouping.

Will joining BRICS signify a significant change for Malaysia? How will it benefit Malaysia?

SEEKING AN ALTERNATE WORLD ORDER

The best way of looking at Malaysia’s application to join BRICS is to see it as an additional platform for Malaysia to gain a larger international voice as a middle power, and to benefit economically.

There have been deep-seated issues relating to OIC and ASEAN in recent years. The OIC has 57 members and is the second-largest organisation after the United Nations. It bills itself as the collective voice of the Muslim world but is undergoing tremendous changes due to geostrategic changes in the Middle East, such as reforms under Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Abraham Accords signed between Israel and several Arab states in 2020 to normalise relations.

The recent inability of OIC to come to a united voice on the Gaza conflict shows how much the OIC has changed. Saudi Arabia hosted a special summit on Gaza between OIC countries and the Arab League in November last year, which could not come to a consensus on what they can do to stop the war. Other than a watered-down declaration that the conflict must end and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, it could be seen as a failure.

There are deep differences within ASEAN members on what the rise of China means for the region. The ongoing conflict over claims in the South China Sea clearly shows the divisions in ASEAN. Thus it is not surprising that Malaysia is looking for additional international platforms to project its national interests.

Additionally, joining BRICS is a relatively straightforward affair. The grouping is a loose coalition and a platform to talk about close trade and political consensus on international issues. Members do not have to change any domestic laws to align with the organisation, unlike for example, joining the European Union, so countries who join BRICS do not have to do much domestically.

A major portion of BRICS is also devoted to South-South trade (between countries of the Global South) with China being the anchor. Malaysia is already a member of the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which does require changing domestic laws, so joining BRICS can be seen as natural progression.

It is telling that Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said this of Chinese President Xi Jinping during a recent interview about joining BRICS: “(China’s rise has) brought us a glimmer of hope that there are checks and balances in the world”.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOC

The growing interest in BRICS is seen in the number of aspirants. South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor was reported as saying in January that 34 countries have submitted an expression of interest in joining the bloc.

It is almost certain that Vietnam and Thailand will apply, and Philippines appear to be interested as well. All these countries, including Malaysia, are looking for a bigger platform in part, because Indonesia, the most important ASEAN country is now a member of the Group of Twenty (G20). Indonesia has a much larger platform so it is not surprising that other ASEAN countries are looking for a bigger platform as well.

It is clear that the rising powers, India, Brazil, South Africa and China, are at the forefront of BRICS and they are trying to set up a new platform for the developing world. Getting in early is better than getting in later. Malaysia is already late in the sense that Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UAE joined at the start of 2024.

One must not forget that the BRICS countries collectively account for about 45 per cent of the world’s population and one-third of global gross domestic product. There is a real possibility that in the future, BRICS may become another version of G7, the club of the world’s rich countries.

Meanwhile, Malaysia supports some of the core BRICS interests. For example, BRICS has always said the world will be more stable if countries can move away from the US dollar and trade in other currencies. Malaysia believes that more trade should be conducted directly to bypass the US dollar. Malaysia is probably hoping that it will benefit from the BRICS Development Bank.

BEIJING’S SHADOW

There is broad support among the Malaysian foreign policy class for Malaysia to join BRICS. Many in the past eight months have been incensed by the Gaza issue and are angry with US and European support for Israel. They see the US and EU as enabling the ongoing destruction of Gaza by the Israeli military. Public opinion in Malaysia is firmly on the side of the Palestinians.  

Russia, China and South Africa are leading critics of Israel on the Gaza issue, thus the Malaysian public would probably be highly supportive of Mr Anwar’s push to join BRICS.

Is there a downside to BRICS membership?

Critics will argue that by joining BRICS, Malaysia will be further “locked in” in its relationship with China, giving Beijing another lever to manipulate Malaysia’s foreign policy.

However, the reality of that is that Malaysia, and the rest of the ASEAN, cannot escape from Beijing’s shadow. China has always been the leading power in Southeast Asia, except for the three hundred years when the region was under European colonial rule.

Malaysian elites have taken the position that they must engage China regardless and that more engagement is better than less engagement. China has been Malaysia’s top trading partner for the past 15 years and there is no reason this will change in the foreseeable future.

Malaysia is also a subscriber to Mr Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative and RCEP, so a BRICS membership will add another layer of engagement rather than be a game-changer.

The only people who will be annoyed by Malaysia’s application will probably be the US and its allies. The US sees BRICS as essentially a loose body dedicated to replacing the dominance of the West in the international arena. Malaysia is willing to live with that.

James Chin is Professor of Asian Studies at the Asia Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania.