KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — French President Emmanuel Macron surprised many when he used the Malay language to post on his official X account, @EmmanuelMacron about his meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the G20 Summit.

The post, though brief, was written entirely in Malay, sparking admiration and curiosity among netizens.

It read: "Bersama Perdana Menteri Malaysia @AnwarIbrahim, yang juga merupakan Pengerusi Asean. Pertemuan pertama ini akan membolehkan kami mempererat hubungan antara negara kami, khususnya dalam bidang peralihan tenaga, salah satu keutamaan bersama kami.”

Accompanying the post were pictures of him and Anwar shaking hands during their bilateral meeting held at the recently concluded G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Comments poured in, praising Macron for his thoughtful gesture.

An X user @ehsan_zakaria exclaimed: "Ingatkan X auto translate, rupanya dia betul-betul guna BM! Bahasa Melayu menduniaaa!”

Meanwhile, @safwanmohamad echoed similar sentiments, saying: "Saya ingat translated speech... Rupanya memang BM.”

Another netizen, @d_syahir, expressed pride in Macron’s choice of language, posting: "Bangga aku! Orang luar pun guna Bahasa Melayu.”

Interestingly, the post also rekindled memories of past French-Malaysian engagements.

User @azrullez replied, saying: "Jemput datang ke Malaysia. Kali terakhir Presiden Perancis datang ke Malaysia ialah tahun 2017, iaitu Presiden Francois Hollande.”

During the meeting held on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, Macron and Anwar had expressed their commitment to continue to strengthen relations and cooperation between France and Malaysia. — Bernama