国际英语新闻:Malaysian PM urges country to unite for shared prosperity

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday urged his countrymen to unite to make Malaysia a prosperous, dignified and independent nation.

In his National Day message, ahead of the 62nd anniversary of the country's independence, Mahathir said the government would focus on the implementation of the policy to improve people's living standards and develop the country.

"The Vision of Mutual Prosperity is an effort to make Malaysia a country that is constantly developing along with fair and inclusive economic distribution at every level of the value chain, class, race and geography to create a sense of place harmony and stability among the people through 2030," he said.

"It is being done with the objective of making Malaysia greater and one of the important economic axes in Asia," he added.

Mahathir stressed that Malaysians needed to respect one another as tolerance and mutual understanding were key to maintaining harmony in the multi-racial and multicultural country.

He also pledged to keep the fight against corruption as a top priority of his administration.