Freshly returning from his hectic trip to Italy, France and Brazil, Anwar found himself surrounded by the region’s foreign affairs ministers as the country hosted the ASEAN meet.

And as soon as the VIPs left the country, the prime minister had to busy himself with another rushed trip to the east coast state of Terengganu. He grumbled: I travel abroad representing Malaysia, not for leisure!

At a time the sales & service tax (SST) expansion is frustrating many a Malaysian consumer as the cost of living goes through the roof, and with Donald Trump’s tariffs uncomfortably impending, Rafizi Ramli has set the PKR’s backyard ablaze over irregular judicial appointments, while our prime minister, completely tied down by his tight schedule abroad, was caught totally unprepared by the onslaught.

Everyone knows that Anwar is heavily besieged on the domestic front, but from what I witnessed accompanying the PM during those seven days of whirlwind diplomatic stint, the scenario was completely different, as he was accorded reception of the highest levels outside of the country.

Allow me to present a different perspective and give a first-hand account on how Malaysia and its leader were perceived internationally.

Visits to Rome and Paris were orthodoxically formal—rolled-out red carpet, inspection of guard of honor, bilateral talks, and the like.

In Rome, Anwar was met by his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, and in Paris, he met premier François Bayrou in the morning, followed by president Emmanuel Macron in the evening to not only host a joint press conference but also attend a state banquet.

The PM later flew across the ocean to Brazil. Although it was only a working visit and as such no ceremonial welcome was planned, the visit was just as glitzy and momentous.

First and foremost, Anwar was the only foreign leader to have been invited to deliver a keynote address at the business forum. And, attending the BRICS summit for the first time as the leader of a partner country, the timing of his address alongside full-member leaders indeed put him a notch above delegates from the other partner countries!

As if that’s not enough, from the schedule handed out to the media in Brazil, in addition to the originally planned meeting with India’s prime minister Narendra Modi at a hotel, Anwar suddenly found himself choked with endless impromptu talks—many on the request of other countries—upon his arrival at the summit venue!

The reception accorded to Anwar in these three countries was phenomenal, especially at the joint press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris!

Emmanuel Macron is no doubt a shining star in global politics, but even that does not overshadow the glamor of our Anwar Ibrahim, whose fluency and superfluous confidence in engaging with the press without having to constantly stare into the script like his French host was outright impressive.

That was when all the Malaysians present stood still, their backs straightened, not unlike the case for certain former PMs—you should know whom I am referring to—who might not even have the guts to speak at a joint press conference or worst still, get into Macron’s exclusive VIP list! Don’t you agree?

Small countries have no say in international diplomacy and often find themselves at the mercy of much bigger powers. In view of this, it is deplorable if Malaysia, currently the rotating chair of ASEAN, fails to seize and exploit such rare opportunities made available to us only once in a whole decade!

Macron has never visited Malaysia since he came to power in 2017, and his first meeting with Anwar was during the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro last November.

Macron frequently makes international headlines and is well aware of the power of public exposure. He even wrote in Malay when posting news and pictures of his meeting with Anwar on social media platform X—an exceptional diplomatic trick that overwhelmingly impressed the Malaysian public.

The two leaders talked again over the phone on February 21 this year, paving the way for Anwar’s visit to France early July.

Almost all the business behemoths featured at the Malaysia-France business forum were time-honored names, with the oldest having established a foothold in colonial Malaya well before its independence, in 1927!

Business delegates are most concerned about the prospect of profitability for their investments and are thus very straightforward and pragmatic with their demands. Nonetheless, their feedback on this country easily shames the “keyboard warriors” that abound in Malaysian cyberspace!

Small countries have no say in international diplomacy and often find themselves at the mercy of much bigger powers. In view of this, it is deplorable if Malaysia, currently the rotating chair of ASEAN, fails to seize and exploit such rare opportunities made available to us only once in a whole decade!

Anwar is well aware of this logic, and has over the past two years traveled extensively in the region and beyond to expand Malaysia’s diplomatic clout, including to three nations within the first week of this month alone!

Finding a way through the convoluted global geopolitical ramifications is by no means a breeze, not even for a strongman like France’s Macron who has at times hit a snag dealing with BRICS. That being said, Anwar, a new partner country leader, appears to have a relatively smooth sail.

Trump’s smothering tariffs are an inevasible issue confronting the bloc, and there have been calls for multilateralism to resist the American leader’s unilateralism advocacy.

Trump is universally known as a big bully that exempts no nations. As this year’s BRICS summit organizer, Brazil got the whip soon afterward, with tariff rate surging to 50% plus a “domestic interference” investigation!

Many in Malaysia fail to see the big picture, alleging Anwar of deliberate talking that invites penalties from Washington (24% to 25% tariffs), reflecting their lack of foresight and dignity to “kiss my ass”—in Trump’s own crude words—in order to win his favor, without realizing that even America’s most loyal vassals like Japan and South Korea are not spared the 25% tariffs!

Foreseeably, many Malaysian businesses will be significantly affected by Trump’s tariffs, and we simply cannot afford to continually look to Washington for inspiration.

In its stead, we should turn to BRICS, EU, Middle East, Asia and ASEAN in diversifying our diplomatic strategies in order to expand our investment and trade potentials with like-minded countries and regions through platforms such as Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

All this has to begin with pragmatic diplomacy!

P.S.: When in Italy and France, Anwar tried to make time to meet local Muslim leaders in the midst of his jam-packed schedule, and I don’t have to go further into this. As a matter of fact, from his continually updated schedule made available to me prior to the visit, we could see that the foreign ministry had indeed put in a lot of effort to try to squeeze in an audience with the newly installed Pope Leo XIV when Anwar was in Rome, which would have been of tremendous historical and inter-civilizational significance if the meeting were to be materialized. Unfortunately, I was informed by our ambassador in Rome that the Pope had an extremely narrow window to entertain guests. Anyway, Anwar should be commended for this initiative which should help in any future ice-breaking endeavors!