"Western Countries Are No Longer Colonial Powers" — Anwar Says Malaysia To Join BRICS
"We can no longer accept the scenario where the West wants to control the discourse," he said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that Malaysia will soon begin formal proceedings to join the BRICS geopolitical bloc
"We have already explained our policy and made our decision. We will start formal proceedings soon," Bernama quoted Anwar as saying in an interview with Chinese news outlet Guancha.
The geopolitical bloc, established in 2009, is called BRICS due to its founding countries being Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining the bloc a year later in 2010.
Since then, five other members have joined BRICS: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, with the latter joining the bloc in January this year.
(From left) President of Brazil Lula da Silva, President of China Xi Jinping, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov during the BRICS Leaders Retreat Meeting, at Johannesburg, in South Africa on 22 August 2023.
Image via Wikipedia
Anwar said that he's working closely with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on expanding the membership to include Malaysia
According to him, the Malaysian government is awaiting the final result and response from South Africa.
He said that Malaysia's membership in BRICS would be strategically important, given the Straits of Malacca's position as an important shipping lane connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
"We can no longer accept the scenario where the West wants to control the discourse because the fact is they are not colonial powers anymore and independent countries should be free to express themselves," he added.
Last year, Anwar had announced that Malaysia would reduce its reliance on the US dollar:
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