Malaysia's Anwar praises Vietnam for overcoming colonial past

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) – Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim praised Vietnam on Friday for their developmental success after overcoming its colonial past.

The prime minister said that his nation “could learn to rise again as a great nation.”

Although Vietnam experienced a severe economic crisis, it gained “amazing economic power in a very short time and became a successful developing country,” said Anwar who was in Hanoi on an official trip.

He was referring to French colonialism of Vietnam and the US intervention in the country, state-run media Bernama reported.

“This is, firstly, due to the unification of North and South Vietnam, and the focus of the people of that country is unity, with the clear goal of developing the country and safeguarding the people’s well-being,” Anwar added.

“The suffering of the Vietnamese people, as we in Malaysia know them as boat people, those who had to flee the country because of economic problems and sudden changes ... They (Vietnamese people) are focused on the economy, and you also know that there are some strict measures on governance and anti-corruption issues,” he said.

Recalling the era of the 1990s, Anwar said Vietnam heavily leaned on Malaysia and learned from its development, particularly in the financial and banking domains.

He acknowledged that Vietnam had surpassed Malaysia in various sectors, pointing out that Malaysia could learn from Vietnam’s well-defined investment strategies aimed at promoting foreign investments.