Both these universities have been placed in the joint 121-130 band.
The other three universities are Universiti Teknologi Petronas (131-140 band), Universiti Sains Malaysia (141-150 band) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (151-160 band).
Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Utara Malaysia were listed in the 200 and above band.
THE said Malaysia and Indonesia were two emerging players that had great potential.
THE said it had launched this first Asia-Pacific University Ranking 2017 to reflect the region’s growing strength in the higher education sector.
THE rankings editor Phil Baty said Malaysian universities generally performed well “when it comes to their international outlook” but that they often scored low marks for research impact.
It is not surprising to hear that the National University of Singapore has taken top spot. This university does consistently well in all higher education rankings.
Peking University is in second spot, followed by the University of Melbourne, Tsinghua University in China and the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.
THE’s Asia-Pacific University Ranking 2017 analysed universities across 38 nations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania. The overall ranking features just over 200 universities from 13 different nations.
Although the ranking uses the same performance indicators as that for the THE World University Rankings 2016-17, the weightings were adjusted to reflect the younger profile of some of the universities in the region.
Japan is the most-represented nation with 69 universities on the list, with China in second place with 52 universities.
Other countries with a strong presence in the ranking are Australia (35 universities), Taiwan (26), South Korea (25) and Thailand (nine).