40 Years of Malaysia's Look East Policy and Relocation of Indonesia's Capital: Serumpun Solution in Sarawak-West Kalimantan Cross-Border Halal Hub
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Abstract: The relocation of Indonesia's new capital to Kota Nusantara (East Kalimantan) is a game changer. It creates a spill-over of the prosper thy neighbour policy upon the existing West Kalimantan-Malaysia Sarawak border for the first Japanese Big Eon in Kuching (Malaysia's Sarawak) and potential Halal Wagyu beef market in Pontianak (Indonesia's West Kalimantan). Both countries should seize this golden opportunity to revisit their respective Look East Policy (LEP) with Japan and integrate Japan's advantages in quality assurance to overcome different regulatory Halal practices. After all, sustaining the Halal economy is no longer determined by the growing Muslim population alone but a shared knowledge and mutual policy lessons on Halal regulations and quality assurance. While both countries are essential players in the global halal hub and shared trade borders, there needs to be more harmonisation between Kalimantan-Sarawak's cross-border halal framework. With the Indonesian decision to relocate to a new capital, Kota Nusantara (located in East Kalimantan), there is a severe immediate need to bring LEP's benefits and profile the existing business ecosystem in Kuching (the capital of Sarawak) and Pontianak (capital of West Kalimantan).
Keywords: cross-border Halal hub Japanese quality assurance Sarawak-West Kalimantan 40 years of Look East Policy relocation of Indonesia's capital
DOI: 10.17576/sinergi.0202.2022.12
Article information: Submission date: 4 August 2022; Acceptance date: 2 October 2022; Publication date: 31 December 2022.
Declaration and acknowledgement: The authors would like to show their gratitude to SINERGI’s anonymous reviewers and their constructive feedback in improving the quality of the manuscript. Authors are also immensely grateful for their comments on earlier versions of the draft. No potential conflict of interest was reported. The Authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) through the awarded research grant project of the RE-2023-001, The “New” Jakarta and Border Security: Exploring Peace and Human Security Issues which allow the data collection, fieldwork, and publication process of this article. The author remains indebted to all support and confidential conversations during their fieldwork in cross-border trade ties between Malaysia-Kalimantan and Japanese business presence.
Abstrak: Pemindahan ibu negara baru Indonesia ke Kota Nusantara (Kalimantan Timur) adalah perubahan besar kerana mewujudkan limpahan kemakmuran jiran terhadap sempadan Kalimantan Barat-Malaysia Sarawak bagi pasaraya Jepun pertama di Borneo, Big Eon di Kuching dan potensi pasaran daging lembu Wagyu Halal di Pontianak di Kalimantan Barat. Kedua negara harus merebut peluang keemasan ini untuk memanfatakan Dasar Pandang Ke Timur (LEP) masing-masing dengan Jepun dan melimpahkan kelebihan jaminan kualiti untuk Jepun bagi mengatasi amalan kawal selia Halal yang berbeza. Mengekalkan pasaran Halal bukan lagi ditentukan oleh populasi konsumer Muslim yang semakin meningkat tetapi perkongsian pengetahuan dan pengajaran dasar bersama mengenai peraturan Halal dan jaminan kualiti di sempadan negara. Walaupun kedua-dua negara adalah aktor terpenting dalam Hab Halal Global dan mempunyai hubungan perdagangan di sempadan, keduanya memerlukan penyelarasan dalam rangka kerja halal rentas sempadan Kalimantan-Sarawak. Keputusan perpindahan Indonesia ke ibu kota baharu, wujud keperluan segera memanfaatkan LEP bagi menyokong ekosistem perdagangan rentas sempadan di Kuching (ibu negeri Sarawak) dan Pontianak (pusat kota Kalimantan Barat.
Kata kunci: Hab Halal rentas sempadan, jaminan kualiti Jepun di Malaysia Sarawak dan Kalimantan Indonesia, Dasar Pandang Ke Timur selama 40 tahun di Malaysia dan pemindahan ibu negara Indonesia,
DOI: 10.17576/sinergi.0202.2022.12
Maklumat artikel: Tarikh Penghantaran: 4 Ogos 2022; Tarikh penerimaan: 2 Oktober 2022; Tarikh penerbitan: 31 Disember 2022.
Penghargaan dan pengisytiharan: Para penulis ingin merakamnkan rasa terima kasih mereka kepada pengulas tanpa nama SINERGI dan maklum balas membina mereka dalam meningkatkan kualiti manuskrip. Pengarang juga amat berterima kasih atas komen mereka pada versi awal draf. Tiada potensi konflik kepentingan dilaporkan. Penulis ingin mengucapkan terima kasih atas sokongan Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) melalui projek geran penyelidikan RE-2023-001 yang dianugerahkan, Jakarta “Baharu” dan Keselamatan Sempadan: Meneroka Isu Keamanan dan Keselamatan Manusia yang membenarkan data pengumpulan, kerja lapangan dan proses penerbitan artikel ini. Penulis terhutang budi kepada semua sokongan dan perbualan sulit semasa kerja lapangan bersama responden dalam hubungan perdagangan rentas sempadan antara Malaysia-Kalimantan dan kehadiran perniagaan Jepun.
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