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By Joseph Rachman<\/em><\/p>\n Welcome to Foreign Policy<\/em>\u2019s Southeast Asia Brief.<\/p>\n The highlights this week: Southeast Asia splits over the Iran strikes<\/strong>, Malaysia makes an anti-LGBT push<\/strong>, Indonesia convicts oil execs<\/strong> for corruption, and joint Thai-U.S. exercise<\/strong> Cobra Gold kicks off.<\/p>\n Indonesia\u2019s Prabowo Offers to Negotiate With Iran<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The United States and Israel\u2019s surprise strikes on Iran have stunned the world, including Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n As with the United States\u2019 audacious raid<\/a> on Venezuela, none of the countries in the region has welcomed the development.<\/p>\n Some Southeast Asian leaders are taking a softer line on the Iran strikes, though, despite their greater scope and likely greater repercussions.<\/p>\n The most striking response has come from Indonesia, the world\u2019s largest Muslim nation, which has offered to facilitate negotiations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unusually, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs even declared, \u201c[T]he President of Indonesia is willing to travel to Tehran to conduct mediation.\u201d<\/p>\n Indonesia also stopped short of condemning the strikes, instead saying it \u201cdeeply regrets\u201d the failure of negotiations and calling for restraint. Contrast this to former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s capture, after which Indonesia expressed<\/a> \u201cgrave concern\u201d over U.S. actions.<\/p>\n As with Indonesia\u2019s provision of troops<\/a> for a Gaza peacekeeping force, the key driver seems likely to be President Prabowo Subianto\u2019s continuing efforts to make a role for himself on the global stage as a peacemaker.<\/p>\n This new offer risks making Prabowo look like a stooge of U.S. President Donald Trump in Indonesians\u2019 eyes. Some are already criticizing his offer as unrealistic<\/a>.<\/p>\n The region\u2019s two other Muslim-majority states, Malaysia and Brunei, have been much more critical.<\/p>\n Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has long been a vocal critic<\/a> of the United States\u2019 Middle East policies and Israel. As an Islamic student activist, he was deeply inspired<\/a> by the Iranian revolution. Yet Malaysia\u2019s close links to Gulf states mean it has also condemned Iran\u2019s retaliatory strikes against them.<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a>, the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it \u201cstrongly condemns the attacks against Iran and the subsequent retaliatory attacks against several countries in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n It further called for disputes to be resolved via diplomacy \u201cin full respect of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n Anwar has also spoken out personally against the killing<\/a> of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. \u201cI unreservedly condemn the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This act places the Middle East on the edge of grave and sustained instability.\u201d<\/p>\n He called the killing of a head of state a \u201cdangerous precedent\u201d that weakened the international order.<\/p>\n However, Anwar also added, \u201cI urge the Iranian authorities to respond with the utmost restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n These sentiments were echoed by Brunei\u2019s foreign ministry, which stated<\/a> it \u201cstrongly condemns\u201d the attacks on Iran that \u201cresulted in the loss of innocent civilian lives and provoked retaliatory strikes\u201d against Gulf countries.<\/p>\n The statement added it was particularly regrettable that the strikes came amid talks hosted by Oman for a new nuclear deal.<\/p>\n Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul declared<\/a> he was \u201cgravely concerned by the current situation in the Middle East\u201d and \u201csaddened\u201d by violence against civilians. The government\u2019s main focus<\/a>, though, is the safety of Thai civilians and their potential evacuation.<\/p>\n Singapore has said it \u201cregrets the failure of negotiations\u201d that led to strikes against Iran and its retaliatory strikes and called for a return to negotiations.<\/p>\n Again, the formulation is weaker than Singapore\u2019s response<\/a> to U.S. actions in Venezuela. This reflects Singapore\u2019s long-standing ties and sympathy with Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cambodia\u2019s government has expressed<\/a> \u201cdeep concern\u201d and called for maximum restraint to avoid escalation. However, unlike with Venezuela, it did invoke<\/a> the need to respect international law.<\/p>\n Philippine President Ferdinand \u201cBongbong\u201d Marcos Jr. has simply declared<\/a> that the government is monitoring the situation and emphasized that his priority was protecting Filipinos in the region.<\/p>\n The latter point is a major concern given the high number of Filipino workers in the Middle East. One was killed<\/a> on Feb. 28 by an Iranian strike on Tel Aviv. And unlike with Venezuela, there was no concerned invocation<\/a> of international law.<\/p>\n The governments of Laos, Myanmar, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam have, at the time of writing, yet to offer comment on the situation.<\/p>\n In terms of concrete impacts on Southeast Asia, the most immediate will be any effect on oil prices.<\/p>\n Thailand has already suspended oil exports over worries about spiking prices. Malaysia has promised to keep prices<\/a> stable via subsidy\u2014which will be expensive.<\/p>\n There will also be some businesses in Malaysia<\/a> that have made money covertly shipping Iranian oil to beat U.S. sanctions now holding very urgent meetings.<\/p>\n Malaysia\u2019s anti-LGBT push. <\/strong>Malaysia is continuing to ramp up its anti-LGBT policies. On Feb. 25, the communications minister announced<\/a> that LGBT dating apps Grindr and Blued had been blocked in the country.<\/p>\n The government is now looking for ways to stop them\u2014and other LGBT-related apps\u2014from appearing on app stores in the country. The deputy minister of religious affairs has also urged<\/a> people to use the term \u201cdeviant culture\u201d instead of LGBT to avoid \u201cpromoting\u201d it.<\/p>\n Malaysia has never been a friendly place for sexual minorities. The country\u2019s penal code\u2014which dates back to the era of British colonization\u2014prohibits \u201ccarnal intercourse against the order of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Recent years have seen growing public and political agitation about the issue. In January, a private event, \u201cGlamping with Pride\u201d\u2014organized by an LGBT rights nongovernmental organization\u2014was canceled<\/a> over public outcry.<\/p>\n The irony is that Anwar has twice been convicted<\/a> on sodomy charges, in 2000 and 2014. He and his supporters have always denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.<\/p>\n Anwar\u2019s ascension to the top office was also seen by some as a victory for Malaysia\u2019s liberal forces. But with his government politically courting the country\u2019s increasingly religious conservative Malay majority, these hopes have been dashed.<\/p>\n Indonesia cracks down on oil graft.<\/strong> On Feb. 26, Indonesia jailed<\/a> nine people on corruption charges related to the subsidiaries of national oil company Pertamina.<\/p>\n Accused of causing $17 billion in state losses, the defendants were sentenced to between nine and 15 years.<\/p>\n The most interesting figure to be convicted<\/a> was Mohammed Kerry Adrianto Riza, the son of Riza Chalid, aka Indonesia\u2019s \u201cgasoline godfather<\/a>,\u201d also sought by Indonesian prosecutors in the same case.<\/p>\n It is widely believed their business hinged on Chalid\u2019s protection by powerful political contacts he cultivated.<\/p>\n Last year, Indonesia\u2019s leading investigative news outlet, Tempo<\/em>, accused<\/a> former President Joko Widodo of having blocked an investigation into Chalid, despite having promised to clean up corruption in Pertamina.<\/p>\n That Chalid, who is on the run, should come under scrutiny now is interesting, given his strong past links<\/a> to Prabowo. Prabowo has positioned himself as a corruption<\/a> fighter, though critics have alleged his government has used prosecutions as a political tool.<\/p>\n For some, the pursuit of Chalid is proof of Prabowo\u2019s sincere anti-corruption commitment. Others suspect his fall, if it eventuates, might merely herald a new set of vested interests.<\/p>\n