When foreign matters take a temporary backseat

Important meeting: Malaysia's lower house speaker Azhar Azizan Harun (far right) with regional leaders and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (centre) at the Asean-UN summit as part of the 40th and 41st Asean Summits, in Phnom Penh. – AFP

With GE15 coinciding with the Asean and Apec summits, Putrajaya’s active participation at the leaders’ level amid global turmoil will surely be missed.

TWO important summits are taking place back to back in the region this week: the Asean summit in Phnom Penh and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) in Bangkok. Malaysia is a member of these two groupings.