COMMENT In 2014, Malaysia has made international headlines with the two Malaysia Airlines tragedies.

The country did not, however, make much news when it was elected to the United Nations (UN) Security Council yesterday, yet the election gives this Southeast Asian country the opportunity to work with the global powers on a host of pressing and complex issues, among them the threat of terrorism from the Islamic State, the conflicts in Iraq, Ukraine and Syria, and the panoply of rampant human rights abuses worldwide.