Back on track: On Malaysia-India ties

Making amends was at the top of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 24-hour visit to Kuala Lumpur over the weekend after he had cancelled a planned trip to Malaysia last year, at short notice, to attend the ASEAN summit in October 2025. As a result, Mr. Modi said that he made Malaysia his first destination abroad in the new year. His talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who had visited India in 2024, resulted in MoUs, with plans to strengthen ties. There was some strain in India-Malaysia ties in 2025 too — although Malaysia condemned the Pahalgam terror attacks, Mr. Ibrahim had called for a “full and thorough enquiry” into the perpetrators and also for “de-escalation and meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan”, which ruffled feathers in New Delhi. He had even offered his services to mediate if required, and in October 2025, had hosted Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif for an official visit. It is, therefore, significant that Mr. Modi set aside these concerns, and that the joint statement said India and Malaysia condemned terrorism unequivocally “… including cross-border terrorism”. India and Malaysia also discussed counter-terrorism cooperation, intelligence and information sharing and coordinating positions at the United Nations and the Financial Action Task Force on the issue. Other important decisions were an MoU on semiconductors, building on cooperation between IIT Madras Global and the Advanced Semiconductor Academy of Malaysia. Building ties in trade, defence, energy and digital technologies were highlighted by the two sides, that took care not to discuss contentious issues publicly, such as the continued stay of preacher Zakir Naik, wanted in India on UAPA charges.

The two sides also side-stepped their differences over multilateral issues. Mr. Modi’s decision to skip the ASEAN summit despite accepting the invitation had also dealt a blow to negotiations on reviewing the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA). Critical comments by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal about the FTA, as “badly negotiated” and “silly”, and his reference to ASEAN countries as “B-teams” to China still rankled. Mr. Modi’s visit was an important reminder of India’s commitment even as New Delhi moves ahead with FTAs with Europe and the U.S. India will chair the BRICS Summit later this year — in the joint statement, India merely “noted” Malaysia’s aspirations to become a member. Mr. Ibrahim will be invited as Malaysia is a BRICS partner country, while Indonesia has become a member. Mr. Modi’s visit, which was welcomed warmly by Mr. Ibrahim, may thus lead to closer coordination but also lay the ground for closer ties between India and the ASEAN region, in terms of their shared geographies, and in dealing with the larger changes in the world.