Israel-Hamas conflict top geopolitical concern in S-E Asia: Survey

Aggressive behaviour in South China Sea another top issue among respondents

- Michelle Ng

The Israel-Hamas conflict is the top geopolitical concern in South-east Asia, a survey has found, with a large proportion of respondents concerned that Israel's attack on Gaza has gone too far.

Concerns about the ongoing war in Gaza were especially acute in Muslim-majority countries in the Asean region such as Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, according to the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute's The State Of South-east Asia 2024 report published on April 2.

Among the 1,994 respondents polled across the 10 Asean nations, those from Singapore ranked the Israel-Hamas conflict as the top concern for the Republic as well.

First conducted in 2019, the annual survey aims to present a snapshot of the prevailing attitudes among people in a position to inform or influence policy on regional issues.

The 2024 edition was conducted online from Jan 3 to Feb 23 and polled respondents from academia, think-tanks, research groups, businesses, civil society, the media and regional or international organisations, as well as governments.

According to the survey results, the second-most concerning geopolitical event for Asean is aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea, where the Philippines and China have had a series of run-ins in the past year.

Unsurprisingly, from the Philippines and Vietnam, another front-line South China Sea claimant state, ranked it as their country's top concern respondents.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which started in February 2022, and global scam operations were tied in third place for Asean's top geopolitical concerns.

When polled about their views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, which began after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, about two-fifths - or 41.8 per cent of respondents expressed concern that Israel's attack on Gaza had gone too far, with those in Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia particularly concerned.