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..as Malaysia celebrates 65 years of Independence
By Thabani Dube
Harare – It was all joy as dozens of the Zimbabwean business community closely working with the Malaysian people joined in solidarity with the 65th National Day of Malaysia flag-raising ceremony in the capital on 31 August 2022.
Speaking in an interview at the event, the Charge d’affaires of the Embassy of Malaysia, Miss TanTsiu Yinn (Cindy) said she was determined to grow relations between the two countries.
“I have already engaged my Headquarters to improve the bilateral relations and business ties between Zimbabwe and Malaysia and we await approval,” said Cindy adding,
“That’s my job”.
The multiracial, cultural and religious giant Asian country attained its independence on the 31st of August 1957 following unity between the three major ethnic groups namely Malays, Chinese and Indians led to the London Agreement that was signed on 8 February 1956 in which the independence date was set.
“Malaysia cannot grow alone and we want to help prosper the countries around us, then we can start better programmes. It is in this spirit that my government has been running the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) to empower fellow countries’ human resources to attain technical skills in various sectors and business specialties such as education, Islamic Finance, halaal, taxing, marketing, and anti-corruption among others,” she said.
Cindy said hundreds of Zimbabwean students have and continue to benefit from Malaysian-sponsored scholarships.
The Chairperson of the MTCP Alumni, Mr. Conwell Tumbare who furthered his marketing skills under MTCP said there were a lot of potential business opportunities that can be realized between the two nations.
He said a lot of Zimbabweans have gone to get various skills in Malaysia since the turn of the millennium.
“It is time that we start to come up with meaningful business ties with our Malaysian counterparts, especially in the beef and fruits industries,” Tumbare said.
He added that: “In partnership with Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and Transparent International Zimbabwe, we managed to capacitate fellow Zimbabwean workforce through workshops on anticorruption targeting permanent secretaries to directors level in various government departments and the private sector with some of our Alumni who majored in anticorruption facilitating”.
Tumbare said apart from business initiatives, MTCP Alumni were also championing projects that empower communities, citing their contribution of US$2 000 towards the Hatcliffe Clinic.
Malaysia has 30 days of Public Holidays. It has a mixed race of Indians, Chinese, Portuguese, British, Africans, and indigenous groups among others. Religiously, it is largely Islamic coexisting with Buddhists, Christians, and Hindus among other faiths. Despite their diversity, this nation has been united by being Malaysian under one flag with Sultanate leadership at the top which rotates every five years among 8 main Sultans.
