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Ushar Daniele

Malaysia is unlikely to come close to a US call for Asian partners to spend 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence, analysts have said, as Putrajaya tries to modernise an ageing military without overwhelming public finances or appearing to align with Washington’s China strategy.
Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the US had “every right” to ask allies to raise defence expenditure, but stressed that Malaysia faced limits as a developing economy.
“For a country like Malaysia, we are a small country, we are a developing country, not a developed country,” Mohamed Khaled said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday, adding that Kuala Lumpur also needed to develop other sectors or risk instability.
“It doesn’t mean that we will implement it immediately because America says so,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the security forum.
His remarks came after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Asian allies at the forum to ramp up military spending to as much as 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, partly to counter China’s “historic military build-up”.
Malaysia’s defence ministry received 21.74 billion ringgit (US$5.5 billion) under the 2026 budget, up 2.9 per cent from the previous year, with 6 billion ringgit earmarked for acquiring armed forces assets and equipment.


Shahriman Lockman, a foreign policy analyst at think tank ISIS Malaysia, said the country had not spent more than 3 per cent of its GDP on defence since 1991, when expenditure reached 3.2 per cent, with current spending about 1 per cent since 2018.
While Malaysia wanted to raise the figure to 1.5 per cent of GDP in the coming years, citizens were unlikely to tolerate an increase in defence spending when there were other competing demands on the public purse, he said.
“Given that we now seem to be on the long, final stretch to the next general election, we shouldn’t expect the government to stick its neck out by committing to spending any more than that,” he told This Week in Asia.
Malaysia could maintain a broadly non-aligned posture without choosing between the West, China and Russia, he said, but noted that modern defence equipment rarely worked in isolation and Western aircraft, for example, would integrate more easily with Western sensors and missile systems.
“There will always be pressure to diversify. Striking that balance will be hard and expensive,” he said. “There will always be dependency risks, and the choices are going to be between bad and worse ones.”
Fiscal constraints have sharpened Malaysia’s interest in asymmetric capabilities, analysts say, including lower-cost systems such as drones, rockets, loitering munitions and sensors, as well as defence technology from countries such as Turkey, South Korea and Australia.
However, they said such systems should be seen as a way to stretch Malaysia’s defence budget, rather than a substitute for the ships, aircraft, radars and air-defence systems needed to monitor the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca and the Sulu Sea.

Malaysia-based defence analyst Zaki Salleh told This Week in Asia that asymmetric systems should complement rather than replace traditional military capabilities.
He said many militaries now extensively used drones, loitering munitions, long-range precision rockets, electronic warfare systems and sensor networks because they were highly cost-effective.
“The most effective approach is to establish a layered defence structure, where low-cost systems enhance surveillance, target detection and deterrence, while major platforms provide persistent presence, response capability and operational flexibility,” he said.
The problem, however, is Malaysia’s weakness in maritime and air defence, which Zaki said was among the most expensive gaps to fill.
He noted that Malaysia’s maritime combat power, especially its naval assets, was ageing and its fleet remained relatively small compared with the country’s extensive maritime responsibilities.
Zaki urged Malaysia to do more than respond to incidents, such as engaging in sustained surveillance and patrols across key waterways, including the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca and the Sulu Sea.
“Asymmetric capabilities are both a necessary and appropriate component of Malaysia’s future defence structure,” he said. “However, their effectiveness can only be fully maximised when supported by adequate investment in surveillance, air defence and maritime capabilities.”

For Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, the reluctance to rush on defence spending is consistent with Malaysia’s domestic politics and a wider loss of confidence in Washington.
Kurlantzick said the position was consistent with the Anwar Ibrahim government’s broader tilt towards China, as well as negative public sentiment in Malaysia towards Washington.
“Anwar in no way wants to be seen as being pulled into Washington’s China strategy. It’s very bad politics for him,” he said, adding that Asian countries were also increasingly questioning whether the US could be trusted to defend them when needed.
“Why should they do what Hegseth wants?”
According to Kurlantzick, Southeast Asian states are now facing a dilemma similar to Europe’s, as they see the need to boost their own defence capabilities and work more closely with regional powers such as Japan, South Korea and Australia while avoiding the appearance of aligning with the US.
Washington’s push, therefore, was unlikely to succeed in Southeast Asia, he said.
“States may spend more on defence, but it will be because they think they can’t rely on Washington any more, not because Washington pushes them,” he said.
This Week in Asia has contacted Malaysia’s defence ministry for comment.


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Malaysia faces a dilemma in modernising an ageing military without overwhelming public finances or appearing to choose sides, analysts say


Malaysia faces a dilemma in modernising an ageing military without overwhelming public finances or appearing to choose sides, analysts say.


‘We are a small country’: why Malaysia is resisting US defence spending call

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Malaysia faces a dilemma in modernising an ageing military without overwhelming public finances or appearing to choose sides, analysts say

Malaysia faces a dilemma in modernising an ageing military without overwhelming public finances or appearing to choose sides, analysts say