Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, encourages Commonwealth nations to celebrate diversity, and promote tolerance, mutual respect and moderation, to stem the rise of extremism.
Since its establishment in 1949, almost seven decades ago, the Commonwealth has witnessed a remarkable period of social, economic and political change. Indeed, the organisation itself has come a long way. Having started life as an exclusive club for former colonies of Great Britain, it is now a collective family of nations bound together not just by shared history but also a shared sense of values, aspirations and goals. This is best represented by the fact that two of its most recent members, Rwanda and Mozambique, had no historical ties to the British Empire. Now, home to 2.4 billion citizens – two-thirds of whom are under the age of 30 – the Commonwealth represents the past as well as the future in a manner few organisations or associations can…
Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak
former Prime Minister of Malaysia
