Mandela finds inspiration in Malaysia's New Economic Model

14th March 1997

Mandela's recent wheel through 4 South East Asian countries has underlined the inspiration he has found in Malaysia's success in managing a multi-cultural nation and how to manage the transition from colonialism, and the difficulties the ANC still has in dealing with Indonesia due to East Timor issues.

Dr Mahathir's enthusiasm for working with the new South Africa, (Malaysians could only recently visit South Africa again since the end of the Bhutto regime), has also resulted in Malaysia becoming the fourth largest investor in South Africa. Finally, Mandela seemed impressed by "Malaysian democracy" and parallels in the history and prospects of both nations are very evident.

The Australian Financial Review reports on Mandela's tour with more detail on the above in an article entitled Mandela laps up Malaysia's economic fruits.