The role of the five power defence arrangements in the Southeast Asian security architecture

This paper discusses the evolving Southeast Asian security architecture by focusing on the role of a “mini-lateral” defence coalition, the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA). Examined from the Singaporean and Malaysian points of view, the paper investigates whether the FPDA complements or is being gradually supplanted by other regional security instruments in Southeast Asia. The other mechanisms covered in the paper include the activities undertaken by Malaysia and Singapore with the United States bilaterally, mini-laterally with Indonesia through the Malacca Strait Patrol (MSP), and multilaterally through the emerging ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) process. The overall argument of the paper is that for Malaysia and Singapore the FPDA continues to complement these bilateral, mini-lateral and multilateral security instruments, yet each in very different ways. In that sense, the FPDA plays a clear, although limited, role in the Southeast Asian security architecture.  Ralf Emmers is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Multilateralism and Regionalism Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests cover security studies and international relations theory, maritime security, international institutions in the Asia-Pacific, and the security and international politics of Southeast Asia. He is the author of Geopolitics and Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia (Routledge 2010), Cooperative Security and the Balance of Power in ASEAN and the ARF (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003) and Non-Traditional Security in the Asia-Pacific: The Dynamics of Securitization (Marshall Cavendish, 2004). He is the co-editor of Security and International Politics in the South China Sea: Towards a Co-operative Management Regime (Routledge, 2009), Order and Security in Southeast Asia: Essays in Memory of Michael Leifer (Routledge, 2006), Understanding Non-Traditional Security in Asia: Dilemmas in Securitization (Ashgate, 2006), and of Non-Traditional Security in Asia: Trends and Issues (Marshall Cavendish, 2006). Additionally, he has published articles in peer-reviewed journals such as The Pacific Review, Asian Survey, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Pointer and Dialogue + Cooperation as well as numerous book chapters in edited volumes. He is one of the authors of a monograph on A New Agenda for the ASEAN Regional Forum (IDSS, 2002) and of An Agenda for the East Asia Summit (IDSS, 2005) as well as a contributor to International Relations in Southeast Asia: The Struggle for Autonomy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005)