COMPLETION REPORT
Japanese Democracy Assistance to Malaysia: Beyond Engagement
Dr. Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail
Associate Professor
The National University of Malaysia
The polemic of democracy assistance—domestically known as foreign funding—dominated the Malaysian politicallandscape from 2011 to 2016. Attention focused on several high-profile democracy promoters from the UnitedStates, such as the National Endowment of Democracy and the Open Society Foundation, as well as German
political foundations (Stiftungen), some of which were allegedly involved in a plot to destabilize the then Barisan
Nasional (BN) government. Critics’ obsession with these democracy promoters is understandable, considering theirhigh profile and their approach that tends to challenge the status quo. In actuality, however, there exist other formsof democracy assistance to Malaysia channeled by low-profile promoters such as Japan. At a glance, statistics fromthe Creditor Reporting System of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from2003-2016 indicate Japan as the second highest contributor to the sectors related to democracy assistance (such aselections, government, and civil society) in Malaysia, just below the US, with an amount totaling USD 22.969
million. Given this large amount of democracy aid, what kinds of assistance does Japan provide? And, what isJapan’s role in assisting democratization in Malaysia? Within the context of state actor, this research argues that theso-called Japanese democracy assistance to Malaysia actually revolves around governance and security assistance.
As a development-based democracy promoter Japan prioritizes a rather broad definition of democracy; it is also
limited by the good bilateral relation enjoyed by the two countries through the Look East Policy, as well as
Malaysia’s comparatively adequate governance stature and economic development in relation to other Southeast
Asian countries. Hence, Japanese democracy assistance to Malaysia is, ironically, aimed towards stabilization
instead of democratization The trend is expected to persist in the Pakatan Harapan government following Malaysia’s(read: Mahathir’s) inclination to not explicitly address democratization issues in its bilateral relation with Japan.
The same situation can be observed with regards to the role of Japanese non-state actors. Despite the huge
number of Japanese think tanks and non-governmental organizations, only a handful of them participate in global
democracy promotion. This research also examines the form of democracy promotion channeled by Japanese nonstate actors to Malaysia through a case study of two key Japanese non-state actors in Malaysia, namely the Nippon
Foundation and Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The findings indicate that both organizations adopt a rather
accommodative approach and play a complementary role to that of the Japanese government, on the basis of track
two diplomacy. This is in contrast to the role played by high-profile non-state actors such as the National Endowment
for Democracy (United States) and Stiftungen (Germany), which have taken a more grounded approach in theirdemocracy promotion strategies especially in Malaysia. The decrease of engagement by Japanese non-state actors
in Malaysia also raises questions regarding the role they could play in Malaysia’s current transitional periodPublication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
1. 28 September 2018, Bangkok, 4th National and International Conference on Philosophy,Politics and Economics, “JAPAN AS PROVIDER OF DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE:SOME TENTATIVE OBSERVATIONS”, Presented by Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail.
2. 5-6 October 2018, Bandung, The 2ND Biennial International Conference On International
Relations (ICONIS) & The 12TH Congress Of Asian Political And International Studies
Association (APISA) 2018, “JAPAN AS A RELUCTANT ACTOR IN DEMOCRACY
PROMOTION: THE CASE OF MALAYSIA”, Presented by Muhamad TakiyuddinIsmail
3. 30-31 October 2018, Kota Kinabalu, The International Conference On Politics And
International Studies (ICPIS 2018), “JAPANESE DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE TO
MALAYSIA: THE ROLE OF STATE ACTOR” (IN MALAY), Presented by Muhamad
Takiyuddin Ismail
4. 17 January 2019, Universiti Malaya Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Association of JapaneseStudies (MAJAS) Member Lecture Series, “JAPANESE DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE
TO MALAYSIA: STABILIZATION NOT DEMOCRATIZATION” (IN MALAY),
Presented by Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail
5. 25 February 2019, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Seminar on Japanese Studies
Expert Networking in Malaysia 2019, “DEMOCRACY-RELATED RESEARCH INJAPAN”, Presented by Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail
6. “PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES: JAPAN’S INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACYASSISTANCE”, Presented by Associate Professor Dr Maiko Ichihara from Hitotsubashi
University-10 July 2019 – held in Kuala Lumpur – joint collaboration with Japan Foundation,
IDEAS and UKM
11 July 2019 – held in UKM – joint collaboration with UKM and Japan Foundation

7. 4-5 September 2019, Serang, Indonesia, 1st International Conference Ondemocratisation In
Southeast Asia, “THE ROLE OF JAPANESE NON-STATE ACTORS IN DEMOCRACY
PROMOTION IN MALAYSIA: COMPLEMENTING NOT CHALLENGING”, Presented by
Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail
Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
1. Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail, “BANTUAN DEMOKRASI DI MALAYSIA: PERANANPROMOTER BERPROFIL RENDAH” (DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE IN MALAYSIA: THE
ROLE OF LOW PROFILE PROMOTERS), Jebat: Malaysian Journal of History, Politics andStrategy, Vol 45. No 1 (2008): pp 1-33 (see Attachment 1)

2. Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail & Amalin Sabiha Ismail, “THE ROLE OF JAPANESE NON-STATEACTORS IN DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN MALAYSIA: COMPLEMENTING NOTCHALLENGING”, Taiwan Journal of Democracy, Vol 15. No 2 (2019):pp 31-56 (see Attachment 2)

3. Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail, Makio Ichihara, Amalin Sabiha Ismail, Makio Ichihara, “JAPAN’S
DEMOCRACY SUPPORT AS REGIME STABILIZER: THE CASE OF MALAYSIA”,
Pertanika: Journal of Social Science and Humanities (forthcoming) (see Attachment 3)

Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)