On June 10, Turkey agreed to build three corvettes for the Royal Malaysian Navy under the Littoral Mission Ship Batch 2 Project. Savunma Teknolojieri Muhendiskil (STM), one of Turkey’s main defense companies, will build the three littoral mission ships—vessels designed for operations close to shore. Construction will begin in 2024 and is likely to be ready sometime in 2027. From my understanding of what’s been said, the vessels will use air defense missiles procured from South Korea. Moreover, for the first time, Malaysia signed a government-to-government agreement to procure defense equipment, suggesting more purchases from Turkey in the future. There are also rumors that Malaysia will soon sign a deal to buy submarines from Turkey. Its navy made a three-day port visit to Malaysia last month.
Why is Malaysia turning to Turkey for equipment? Primarily, it’s because of the Ukraine War. In the past, Malaysia depended on Russian-made equipment, especially aircraft. In 2017, Malaysia had to retire its MiG-29 fighter aircraft and has also struggled to keep its Su-30s operational. Russia’s military-industrial complex isn’t going to be exporting anytime soon, so Malaysia is turning to others. South Korea has stepped in: last year, Kuala Lumpur signed a deal to buy 18 Korean-made FA-50 fighter jets. This comes as Kuala Lumpur is looking to upgrade its military. It launched its Malaysian Aerospace Industry Blueprint 2030 in 2022 and has increased its defense budget.
Procurement from Turkey isn’t new. Malaysia has purchased DefTech's AV8 Gempita armored personnel carrier and Adnan’s ACV-300 amphibious infantry fighting vehicle. It recently purchased an unmanned aircraft, the TAI Anka, from Turkish Aerospace Industries.
However, there is some noise that the latest and biggest procurement from Turkey has come at the expense of other European countries, namely France, which are angling for defense contracts in Southeast Asia. It’s true that France is becoming more important in the region. Since 2019, France surpassed Russia to claim the position of the world’s second-largest exporter of major arms. In 2022, Indonesia ordered 42 Rafale fighter jets from French aviation giant Dassault, and in January ordered another 18. France is also pushing to sell the Philippines submarines and fighter planes, alongside new defense agreements with Vietnam and potentially soon a visiting forces agreement with the Philippines. I hear that the French government will soon send a defense procurement team to Bangkok—following President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with Thai PM Srettha Thavisin in May—and to Hanoi. Last month, KNDS France proposed its CAESAR 6x6 artillery systems to Malaysia, which the Ministry of Defense is apparently reviewing.
However, French contractors remain a little controversial in Malaysia. In 2022, a French court charged Thales, the French defense firm, with complicity in bribery over a 2002 sale of submarines to Malaysia. Najib Razak, the infamous prime minister brought down by the 1MDB scandal, was defense minister when the deal was signed to buy two Scorpene-class submarines and one Agosta submarine from DCN, now part of Thales, in a deal worth $1.2 billion.
There are also rumors that Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has drawn up a blacklist of defense contractors accused of supporting the Israeli war effort. I believe French firms are on that list. However, Anwar has publicly stressed, especially around the purchases from Turkey, that he didn’t intervene and left it to his defense specialists to decide which countries and companies to purchase from. That’s probably the case. However, it also has to be said that Turkey has been very successful in both formal and informal diplomacy in Malaysia. There have long been rumors about Turkish networks getting close to Malaysian leaders. President Recep Erdoğan stepped in to help Anwar get medical surgery in Turkey in 2018, for instance.
Turkey is one of those countries, like Indonesia, that’s often overlooked and ignored, despite its size and economic importance. But its influence in the world—and in Southeast Asia—will grow. Let’s take a quick look at Turkey. The economy isn’t too great, but its demographics are good, sparing Turkey from the economic challenges that will face most European countries and China. It’s a NATO power but, given its geography, doesn’t really need US military support any longer (unless Russia were to win in Ukraine). Geographically, Turkey is strategic, straddling both Europe and Asia. It’s trying to make a dash from the Middle East and, instead, its interests are now in the Caucasus and Central Asia where there are a lot of Turkic people—and where, for instance, it helped Azerbaijan defeat Armenia. Azerbaijan happens to be one of the biggest oil producers, much of which flows through Turkey.
Increasingly, Ankara is looking towards Asia. It unveiled its “Asia Anew Initiative” in 2019. The “Century of Türkiye” (the government’s preferred name for the country) that Erdoğan laid out in 2022 sees a rising place for itself in the developing world, especially in the Muslim world. That means Malaysia and Indonesia.
Since 2014, Turkey and Malaysia elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership and signed a free trade agreement that year (upgraded by Anwar in 2022). Talks over the Indonesia-Turkey Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement are now in their fifth round and could be wrapped up soon. Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi was in Ankara last month. Indonesia and Turkey are also jointly working on the production of medium-weight tanks. Indonesia was one of the first Asian countries to join Turkey’s High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council (it joined in 2022) and the first bilateral meeting in that forum will happen next year. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Jakarta when the new president Prabowo Subianto takes over later in the year.