COMMENT | By 2026, the global security environment has entered a phase defined less by isolated crises than by systemic instability.

Risks no longer emerge in linear or predictable ways; instead, they compound across domains - geopolitical, technological, economic, and societal - creating cascading effects that overwhelm traditional policy responses.

The distinction between domestic and external threats has eroded, replaced by a security landscape where shocks propagate rapidly through global networks.

For Malaysia, a middle power whose prosperity rests on openness, stability, and regional equilibrium, this transformation presents not only external dangers but also internal strategic stress tests.

At the geopolitical level...