Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives

Food insecurity has long been classified as one of the major threats to human wellbeing. In the field of international relations, the concept of human security as highlighted by the UNDP is viewed as an alternative to the mainstream state-centric paradigms designed to tackle the food insecurity is...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bakri Mat, Zarina Othman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi 2014
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/1/4x.geografia-nov14-bakri-edam.pdf
id ukm-8322
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-83222016-12-14T06:46:55Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/ Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives Bakri Mat, Zarina Othman, Food insecurity has long been classified as one of the major threats to human wellbeing. In the field of international relations, the concept of human security as highlighted by the UNDP is viewed as an alternative to the mainstream state-centric paradigms designed to tackle the food insecurity issue. In this vein and to address this issue in Southeast Asia, various initiatives and efforts have been taken at regional levels through ASEAN but due to various reasons the desired outcomes have yet to be achieved. This article examines the effectiveness of ASEAN food security framework of cooperation and elucidates the factors that encourage Malaysia to support the existing mechanism. It is based on descriptive content analysis utilising primary data from field interviews and related secondary data. The findings show that in addition to the poor commitment of member states, conflicting national interests between member states are among the major factors that have hindered the regional cooperation framework from effectively addressing the food security issue, as well illustrated by the 2007/2008 episode of food crisis experienced by the region. In spite of the relative ineffectiveness, Malaysia continues to support the regional framework because it does provide a backup strategy in the event of domestic emergencies. Nevertheless, while working for more effective participations of member countries, the Malaysian government would do well to pay more serious attention to the nation’s domestic food production sector in the interest of the people. Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi 2014-11 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/1/4x.geografia-nov14-bakri-edam.pdf Bakri Mat, and Zarina Othman, (2014) Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives. Geografia : Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 10 (6). pp. 37-47. ISSN 2180-2491 http://www.ukm.my/geografia/v2/index.php
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description Food insecurity has long been classified as one of the major threats to human wellbeing. In the field of international relations, the concept of human security as highlighted by the UNDP is viewed as an alternative to the mainstream state-centric paradigms designed to tackle the food insecurity issue. In this vein and to address this issue in Southeast Asia, various initiatives and efforts have been taken at regional levels through ASEAN but due to various reasons the desired outcomes have yet to be achieved. This article examines the effectiveness of ASEAN food security framework of cooperation and elucidates the factors that encourage Malaysia to support the existing mechanism. It is based on descriptive content analysis utilising primary data from field interviews and related secondary data. The findings show that in addition to the poor commitment of member states, conflicting national interests between member states are among the major factors that have hindered the regional cooperation framework from effectively addressing the food security issue, as well illustrated by the 2007/2008 episode of food crisis experienced by the region. In spite of the relative ineffectiveness, Malaysia continues to support the regional framework because it does provide a backup strategy in the event of domestic emergencies. Nevertheless, while working for more effective participations of member countries, the Malaysian government would do well to pay more serious attention to the nation’s domestic food production sector in the interest of the people.
format Article
author Bakri Mat,
Zarina Othman,
spellingShingle Bakri Mat,
Zarina Othman,
Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives
author_facet Bakri Mat,
Zarina Othman,
author_sort Bakri Mat,
title Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives
title_short Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives
title_full Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives
title_fullStr Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives
title_full_unstemmed Regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in Southeast Asia: Malaysian perspectives
title_sort regional cooperation in addressing food security issues in southeast asia: malaysian perspectives
publisher Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM,Bangi
publishDate 2014
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8322/1/4x.geografia-nov14-bakri-edam.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:52:08Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:52:08Z
_version_ 1777406289586946048