While Islam remains at its core, the Malay world has retained its own identity in a way that many consider as inspirational and a viable model for the Muslim world. The current geopolitics of the Middle East—the centre of Islam—has created a situation in which the three prominent Islamic powers, i.e., Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey are competing to claim the leadership of the Islamic world. This scenario, compounded with the Russia-Ukraine war bringing back the importance of oil and Malaysia’s membership in the OPEC+, has created some new socio-political and economic challenges as well as opportunities for the Malay world.
While chronicling these opportunities and challenges, this paper delves into the bilateral relationships of the Malay world, with a particular focus on Malaysia, respectively with the major powers of the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey to analyse how the Malay world could navigate during the current times under the backdrop of the changing dynamics of the Islamic world in general and Middle East in particular.
