GEOPOLITICAL FRONTIER:

TRADITIONAL DEFENCE CHALLENGES

AND THE NEW AGE OF SECURITY FORUM
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
MALAYSIA

FAdm Dr Tay Yap Leong

Moderator

“Saturday
20 January 2024”
Grand Lexis Hotel, Negeri Sembilan

Lt Gen Dato’ Fadzil Bin Mokhtar (R)

Teaching Fellow of the Centre for International
Defence and Security Studies, National
Defence University of Malaysia (NDUM)

Prof Dr Kuik Cheng-Chwee Ms Sumathy Permal

Professor and Head of the Institute of Senior Fellow and Head of the Centre of
Malaysian and International Studies, Maritime Security and Diplomacy,
National University of Malaysia (UKM) Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA)

7.00 am - 9.00 am Breakfast

9.00 am - 11.00 am Discourse Session

“Geopolitical Frontiers : Traditional Defence Challenges and the New
Age of Security Forum”.

Speaker :
1. Lt Gen Dato’ Fadzil bin Mokhtar (R)
Teaching Fellow, UPNM
2. Professor Dr.Kuik Cheng-Chwee
International Relations and Head of the Centre for Asian
Study
3. Ms Sumanthy Permal
Senior Fellow, MIMA

Moderator :
FAdm Dr Tay Yap Leong
Momentos to Speakers YBhg. Datuk Seri Isham Bin Ishak,
Secretary General Ministry of Defence
Photo Session

11.00 am - 11.30 am Coffee Break

End of Session
 GEOPOLITICAL FRONTIER:
TRADITIONAL DEFENCE CHALLENGES
AND THE NEW AGE OF SECURITY FORUM
Speaker’s
Speaker’s Background
Background
Lieutenant General Dato' Fadzil Bin Mokhtar (Retired) has served in the Malaysian Armed Forces for more
than 41 years, during which he held various senior command and staff positions including as Legal
Adviser to the Malaysian Contingent in Bosnia Herzegovina, Head of Human Resource, Malaysian
Army, Head of Mission, International Monitoring Team in Mindanao, Philippines, General Officer
Commanding 2nd Division and prior to retirement as the Joint Force Commander, Malaysian
Armed Forces. He was also appointed as the Lee Kuan Yew Fellow, National University of Singapore
in 2002. Currently he is a Teaching Fellow at the National Defence University of Malaysia recognised
as an expert in law, military ethics, operational art, and conflict management. He was also one of the
contributors to the formation of Malaysia inaugural Defence White Paper and one of the consultant for
the Defence Capability Blueprint Project in 2021. He holds a Master in Public Management from National
University of Singapore and Master of Arts from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Dr. Kuik Cheng-Chwee is Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS),
National University of Malaysia (UKM) and concurrently a nonresident Senior Fellow at SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, Johns
Hopkins University. Previously he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Princeton-Harvard “China and the World”
Program. He serves as a member of the Consultative Council on Foreign Policy, Malaysian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (2023-2024). Previously he served as Head of the Writing Team (2019-2020) for the
Government of Malaysia’s inaugural Defence White Paper. Professor Kuik’s research focuses on
small-state external policies, big powers in the Indo-Pacific, Asian security, and international relations.
Cheng-Chwee’s publications have appeared in such peer-reviewed journals as International Affairs,
Pacific Review, Journal of Contemporary China, and Contemporary Southeast Asia. He is co-author with
David Lampton and Selina Ho of Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia (2020).
Kuik's essay, “The Essence of Hedging” was awarded the Michael Leifer Memorial Prize by ISEAS.
Cheng-Chwee serves on the editorial boards of Contemporary Southeast Asia, Australian Journal of

by
International Affairs, and several other international journals. He holds an M.Litt. from the University of St. Andrews and a PhD
from Johns Hopkins University.

Sumathy Permal is a Senior Fellow and Head of Maritime Security and Diplomacy, the Maritime Institute of Malaysia. Her
research areas are maritime security, geopolitics, strategic and defence in the Asia Pacific and in the Indo-Pacific. She is on
the editorial board of the Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs Australia and Associate Member
of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies. Sumathy Permal is the Member of Curriculum
Committee, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, University Malaya July 2022 -July 2024. She was
also appointed to (Board of Studies) Institute Asia-Europe, University of Malaya (JKP AEI) 2020 -
MIDAS Commentaries on “Our Sea Power: Malaysia as a Maritime Nation. Her recent works includes
Maritime Security Governance: Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore’s Approach Towards the
Proliferation Security Initiatives, International Law Studies, U.S. Naval War College, and co-author of
UNCLOS at 40, Maritime Institute of Malaysia and the Effect of Covid-19: De-Globalisation and Its
Impact on Global Governance by Routledge, Taylor & Francis.