While both countries have several longstanding issues between themselves to iron out, Anwar’s declaration of Indonesia as a “true friend” serves to improve the atmospherics for Malaysia and Indonesia to work collaboratively on regional issues to secure their own political and economic interests. [...] Language of kinship and of a close relationship has been ever present in describing the Malaysia-Indonesia relationship, which is often described through the concept of serumpun, literally translated to ‘of the same root’. [...] A ceremony was also held to hand over 11 letters of interest (LOIs) by Malaysian companies to the head of a special agency tasked with managing and governing Nusantara city, the future capital of Indonesia. [...] Regional Issues Of interest would be the ability of Anwar and Jokowi to have similar positions on issues of regional significance. [...] The two were reported to have discussed amongst others, the situation in military- ruled Myanmar, joint efforts to address their exports of palm oil and the rivalry between the United States and China.
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