Indonesia Conference Directory

The influence of Japanese non-state actors including private foundations on internationalisation agendas has breathed a new life in Japanese democracy promotion which was previously dominated by the state actor. This exploratory article seeks to examine the form of democracy promotion channelled by Japanese non-state actors to Malaysia through a case study of two key Japanese non-state actors in Malaysia namely the Nippon Foundation and Sasakawa Peace Foundation. In the context of state actor, Japan is right behind the US as the second largest contributor of democracy assistance to Malaysia. However, it is rather difficult to pinpoint Japans contribution due to its ambiguous nature and great emphasis on governance assistance. Such approach had invited criticisms from democrat figures like Anwar Ibrahim who called for a more grounded approach and for Japanese government to emulate its non-state actors in democracy promotion agenda. Data however indicates that Japanese non-state actor approach of democracy promotion to Malaysia is rather “docile” and serves a complementary function to the Japanese government on the basis of track two diplomacy. This is contrary to role played by high profile non-state actors such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (United States) and Stiftungen (Germany) that took a more aggressive approach in their democracy promotion strategies especially in Malaysia. Japanese non-state actors are also bound by the diplomatic code set by its government as well as restricted by the Japan-Malaysia good bilateral relations factor, despite its close engagement with civil society. However, the decrease of activities by Japanese non-state actors to Malaysia had raised questions