ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the various national security concerns, both real and perceived, that Malaysia encounters. It provides a brief overview of Malaysia's national security outlook and threat perceptions, from both historical and present vantage points. The chapter explores various traditional and non-traditional security challenges and focuses on Malaysian authorities' efforts towards defending and securing the nation. Most observers would agree that Malaysia's traditional security concerns have been essentially internally oriented and 'emanated from within'. The global security environment of the twenty-first century is shaped as much by traditional security issues as by non-traditional threats that require national actors to adopt the concept of comprehensive security as the basis for their national strategic thinking. The demise of the Cold War precipitated a fluid international security environment that has left Malaysia facing myriad security concerns, in both the traditional and non-traditional senses.
