As far as Malaysia's standing and relations with its neighbours in the Asean region are concerned, at no point in the country's history save perhaps the relatively short-lived period of Konfrontasi (Confrontation) with Indonesia and the Philippines in the early 1960s has the country been more isolated.

While Kuala Lumpur's ties with neighbouring Singapore have improved, the same cannot be said for its relations with Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila.

Malaysia's ties with Thailand and Indonesia are particularly bad right now, prompting a Bangkok-based political analyst to note that "Thai-Malaysian bilateral relations are so bad at the moment that it will take some time before things can get back to normal".

Indeed, normality is precisely what the region needs, as right-wing nationalist youth groups in Indonesian cities go out into the streets burning the Malaysian flag while chanting the slogan "Crush Malaysia!".

In Thailand the troublesome relationship between the two countries has been elevated to a higher register altogether, with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra going against established diplomatic norms in Asean and claiming that Malaysian authorities are not doing enough to help Thailand with its problems in the restive Muslim provinces in the south of the country.