Yew Meng Lai

Professor Dr Lai Yew Meng  is Professor of Politics and International Relations and former Dean of the Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning (CPKLL), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). He is currently Director of the varsity’s Research Management Centre (RMC), and Head of Maritime Security and Sovereignty Cluster, UMS Blue Economy and Maritime Security Research Centre. Lai also serves as Fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security (MiDAS) Ministry of Defence (MinDef), Malaysia, as well as associate research fellow at the UMS Small Island Research Centre (SIRC) and the University of Malaya’s Institute of China Studies (ICS). He was a member of the National Consultative Council on Foreign Policy (CCFP), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia.  

Lai was appointed Joint Coordinator of the Technical/Expert Committee, Curriculum Structure and Content Development for Timor-Leste’s Institute of Diplomatic Studies in 2013, a capacity-building government-to-government programme between the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to develop and conduct diplomatic training for Timorese career diplomats.      

Lai obtained his master’s in International Political Economy, and doctorate in Politics from the University of Warwick. He was formerly attached to the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) as Visiting Research Fellow (2003-2004), and the Keio Institute of East Asian Studies (KIEAS) as Visiting Scholar (2007-2008). 

Lai’s research interests include Japanese/Chinese foreign policy, Sino-Japanese relations, East Asian security, Malaysian politics and foreign policy, Indonesia-Malaysia relations, and South China Sea issues. He has actively published his research writings with reputable local and international publishers. Among his notable publications include the Security Studies: A Reader (Routledge, 2011); Nationalism and Power Politics in Japan’s Relations with China: A Neoclassical Realist Interpretation (Routledge, 2014); “Malaysia’s Security Concerns: A Contemporary Assessment” in Meredith L. Weiss (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Malaysia (London, 2015); and “Structural Sources of Malaysia’s South China Sea Policy: Power Uncertainties and Small-State Hedging,” Australian Journal of International Affairs (2021). Lai’s more recent publications are two edited books, namely The  Politics of Nationalism, Pride, Prejudice and Power in Indonesia’s Relations with Malaysia: A Neoclassical Realist Perspective (UMS Press, 2025) and Pulau Layang-Layang: Malaysia’s Gem in the South China Sea (UMS Press, 2024), as well as research articles like “Deference and Defiance in Malaysia’s China Policy: Determinants of a Dualistic Policy”, International Journal of Asian Studies (2023); “Emerging Dynamics in Malaysia-Japan Relations under the Second Mahathir Administration”, Issues and Studies (2022); “Crouching Tiger, Ascending Dragon: The Trends and Dynamics of Malaysia-China Relations”, Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies (2023); and two Asian Perspective (2025) articles on new bilateralism and transregionalism in Southeast Asia-Middle East relations.