He said it was vital for the world’s leading academic institutions to invest time and resources in studying Southeast Asia, which he described as a unique region of the world.

Speaking at a dinner to mark the founding of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at his alma mater, the University of Oxford, Sultan Nazrin said Southeast Asia was more than a fascinating object of study.

There was much to be learned, from an academic perspective and a diplomatic or political one as well.

He cited several academic works and intellectual ideas, including Benedict Anderson’s research into Indonesian politics, James Scott’s analyses of the rural poor in Vietnam and Malaysia, and Aiwah Ong’s work on factories in Malaysia, and on Cambodian immigrants in the United States.

“Whenever social scientists speak of ‘imagined communities’, ‘thick description’, or ‘weapons of the weak’, they are in fact using concepts developed through their studies of Southeast Asia,” Sultan Nazrin said.

He hoped the new centre, of which he is the patron, would not only produce outstanding research, but also communicate it to the world.

“I want both Oxford graduates and the general public to learn more about the excellent research of leading scholars from the region, giving people an insight into how human experience might be theorised and understood from Southeast Asia’s vantage point,” he said.

Among measures that could be undertaken were to include publications of Asean’s scholars in students’ reading lists in Oxford, opening the faculties to visiting scholars from the region, and fostering increased collaboration between Oxford and scholars at Asean’s best universities.

The new academic centre, which was launched in Oxford last October, will be part of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.