Syed Ahmad Israa Syed Ibrahim

Syed Ahmad Israa’ Syed Ibrahim is the Chief Executive Officer of IRIS Institute. He holds a BA (Hons) in Syariah from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, and an MA in Social Science (Strategy and Diplomacy) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

He writes and speaks on Middle East geopolitics and Palestine, national power, and ideology in Malaysian politics, and is a regular commentator on Astro AWANI’s Agenda Awani and Dialog Tiga Penjuru and on TV Pertiwi.

Research

• Thematic studies of Malay-Islamic nationalism in the pre-independence era
• The contest of ideologies in Malaysian politics
• Strategic studies of political upheaval in the Middle East
• Strategic studies of China’s infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia

Selected presentations

• “Palestin dalam pergolakan Timur Tengah”, CyberSecurity Malaysia, 2016
• “Syria, ISIS, dan dinamika semasa Timur Tengah”, Kem Briged Paratrooper ATM, 2016
• “Nasionalisme Melayu-Islam Pra-Merdeka dan Implikasi Masa Kini”, Kumpulan Syarikat Az-Zahrah, 2017
• “Liberalisme & Islam dalam lanskap politik Malaysia”, UNIMAS, 2017

Selected publications

• “Kuasa nasional: Tinjauan konsep, permasalahan dan peranan dalam pembangunan negara”, IJISTRA (2025), co-author