25th August 2023 -More than 270 participants comprising distinguished guests, think tanks, senior diplomats and senior military officers as well course participants of Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College attended the Indo-Pacific Dialogue@MiDAS organised at Hikmat Hall, Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College, National Centre for Defence Studies (PUSPAHANAS) entitled “Bolstering Traditional and Non-Traditional Security Partnership In The Indo-Pacific: Road Ahead For Stronger EU-ASEAN Malaysia Synergies”.
It is a dialogue co-organised between Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MIDAS) with Centre for ASEAN Regionalism University of Malaya (CARUM), the Asia-Europe Institute University of Malaya (AEI) with partnerships from the Delegation of the European Union in Malaysia. Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, and the Embassy of Spain.
The dialogue is very fortunate to have a distinguished group of speakers including the moderators to be brought together in an auditorium to share their insights and knowledge. All the speakers including the moderator are heavyweights in their fields such as YM Raja Dato’ Nurshirwan Zainal Abidin, Director General for National Security of Malaysia, His Excellency Michalis Rokas, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Malaysia, Mr Sahipulhijaiman bin Zainal Abidin, Deputy Undersecretary, Policy and Strategic Planning Division, Ministry of Defence, Prof. Dr. Adam Leong Kok Wey, Director, Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, National Defence University Malaysia and the moderator, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Roy Anthony Rogers. The cross-section of these experts in the field of diplomacy, defence and security has indeed enriched the discussions occured during the programme.
The programme has shed the notion that it goes without saying that collaboration or partnership has become a buzzword and a necessity nowadays for stronger EU-ASEAN-Malaysia synergies especially in regard to the topic that was discussed which are the traditional and non-traditional threats. Special thanks to Vice Admiral Datuk Sabri bin Zali, President of the National Centre for Defence Studies (PUSPAHANAS), Maj Gen Datuk Mohd Nizam bin Hj Jaffar, Commandant of National Resilience College, First Admiral Badarudin bin Taha, Commandant of Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College, Brigadier General Dato’ Hj Semaon bin Hj Marjuki, Commandant of Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College and senior managements of PUSPANAS for their relentless support to the success of the dialogue within their compound.
Also, a sincere appreciation to all the co-organisers especially to Dr. Rahul Mishra, Director of Centre of ASEAN Regionalism (CARUM), University of Malaya as well as all the esteemed speakers, the moderator and supportive participants for making the dialogue truly successful.
