Thousands of Malaysian students who graduated in Russia will bring good will and skills back home, Teoh Seng Lee has said

Education is the "soft diplomacy" by which Russia and Malaysia can foster great bilateral relations, Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation Teoh Seng Lee, resident in Penang State, Malaysia, has told RT. Graduates from Russian institutions will share a view of Russia that contrasts with Western media portrayals, he explained.

On the sidelines of the ASEAN forum in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov presented Teoh Seng Lee the ministry's 'For Interaction' badge in gratitude for the honorary diplomat's decades of work in "fostering bilateral trade, economic and humanitarian ties."

According to Teoh Seng Lee, his greatest achievement in strengthening relations over the past 30 years was facilitating Malaysian students' education in Russia.

"We now have thousands of doctors, even engineers in Malaysia who graduated from Russia," he told RT in an interview shortly after the award ceremony on Thursday.

"Education... they used to call it soft diplomacy. And it is by means of education that we foster very, very good ties," the honorary consul said, adding that a lot of returning students "have fond memories of Russia."

Teoh Seng Lee argued that this is important in countering "negative narratives" in the media. Many of his former graduates are "aghast when they hear all the nonsense," he said.

Malaysian graduates will return with "a different image of Russia [than] is in the news. And that's important," he added.

"And more importantly is the quality of work they are doing. Many of my graduates have now become specialists in their field," Teoh Seng Lee said, adding that his personal cardiologist is one of them.

The honorary consul expressed hope that Russia would set up more scholarships and further expand education exchange with Malaysia.

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Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said last year that around seven thousand Malaysians had graduated from Russian educational institutions, mostly in medical fields.

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(RT.com)