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29  Focus in Continuity: A Framework for Malaysia's Foreign
               Policy in a Post-Pandemic World - A Monograph
           larger role in capacity building that would   there is no reason not to pursue the same
           amplify its technical capacity and internal   course of action in matters concerning
           collaboration experience.                cyber. As cyber is a multi-stakeholder
                                                    domain – with geopolitical and cyber
           Practical and aim for development:  as   stability tensions a ecting the public and
           the digital economy can enrich many lives,   private sectors – Malaysia should support
           the growth of the economy and develop-   mechanisms that would amplify its voice
           ment of society can be among the anchors   and participation in international fora.
           of foreign policy engagements. Being a   Encouraging  and facilitating Malaysian
           nation of limited resources, Malaysia’s   private  sector  and  civil  society
           agenda for cyber should aim for practicali-  organisations in technical standards or
           ty, innovation and serve the objective of   other geopolitical spaces (such as the UN
           national prosperity. Thus, international   OEWG) could boost the Malaysian profile
           engagements should harness the activities   in these areas. Widening spaces of
           of  ministries, agencies  and the private   discourse to include the private sector in
           sector tipped towards economic growth.   foreign policy  would be useful for
           This would also be inclusive of building a   innovative policymaking and leverage on
           trusted digital environment, facilitating   various actors for cyber diplomacy.
           collaboration in cyber-crime, ensuring that
           data harmonisation and protection of       The national cyber security strategy
           personal data would project Malaysia’s   2020-2024 highlights priorities for greater
           cyber capabilities and promoting its     cross-border collaboration in cybercrime,
           technical and human resource capabilities.  intelligence connectivity, engagement with
                                                    international platforms  on international
           An upholder of digital rights and its    standards development and the identifica-
           cultural values: the di usion of technolo-  tion of confidence-building mechanisms.
           gy will complicate the protection of human   To achieve the goals, Malaysia would need
           rights and fundamental freedoms online.   to deepen understanding of national
           As developing nations have di erent expe-  interests in a shifting domain. Mapping the
           riences with digitisation and technologies,   engagements and areas of concerns from
           cybersecurity concerns can impact on     ministries, agencies and state government
           societies di erently, such as gendered   activities, inclusive of values and future
           lenses  to network  shutdowns  or  cultural   technological concerns, would  contribute
           nuances to data ownership that impact on   to Malaysia’s understanding of the geopo-
           privacy practices. Thus, digital rights must   litical challenges from the perspective of
           include access and telecommunication     various stakeholders.
           policies, privacy and surveillance or
           content moderation and hate speech.         Additionally, cyber diplomacy  would
           Malaysia’s identity and values should stay   need to be agile, multi-disciplinary and
           aligned to practices of diversity, tolerance   highly collaborative. Diplomats can be
           and respect in the management of data or   trained  on the  basics and  nuances
           the creation of online spaces.           of  cyber-related  matters,  especially
                                                    those concerning cybersecurity, Big
           A believer in multi-stakeholder process-  Tech, international regulations, critical
           es: Malaysia is a true believer in diplomacy   technologies and future issues. They need
           and multi-stakeholder engagement and     to have su cient capacity to address
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