KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― Bilateral ties between Malaysia and the Philippines will improve under the “authoritative” leadership of the republic’s new president  Rodrigo Duterte, according to its ambassador to Malaysia, J. Eduardo Malaya.

A report in the Manila Times today quoted the envoy saying that Filipinos and other Asians could benefit from Duterte’s leadership style, described as “big city mayors being the best suited to be presidents and prime ministers.

“Filipinos and Asians are familiar with his type of leadership — authoritative and not necessary authoritarian, and paternalistic and not at all undemocratic. We know this as ‘orang besar,’ a strong leader who takes care of his community,” Malaya said in an email interview with the Manila Times.

“I wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge the long-standing partnership of Malaysia and the warm friendship of the Malaysian people. We are pleased to see the growing two-way trade and investment flows between our business communities, as well as robust people-to-people engagements through tourism and cultural exchanges.

“We are also grateful for Malaysia’s facilitation of the peace process in Mindanao,” the report quoted Malaya saying.

He also said that there were many people who were still not used to Duterte’s style, which foreign media have described as sexist and misogynistic among other things, but that Filipinos and other “eastern countries” were familiar with his brand.

“Many are still coming to terms with our President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and his often unorthodox ways. Filipinos and those of us in the East are not at all apprehensive. We know and are familiar with this brand of leadership,” said Malaya.

Duterte, a former mayor of Davao city for 22 years, has courted controversy in several incidences, including “catcalling” a female reporter and most recently saying journalists who were assassinated “had done something wrong.”

He recently made headlines in Malaysia for his vow to continue pursuing the Philippines claim on Sabah, a long time controversy that was made worse with an armed intrusion by the self-proclaimed Sulu Sultanate army into Sabah’s east coast, Lahad Datu in February 2013, resulting in a bloodbath.

The report also quoted Malaya saying that Filipinos have long been searching for a type of leader like Duterte, whom he likened to the late President Ramon Magsaysay in the 1950s.

 “No Philippine leader has energized and electrified Filipinos since then until Rodrigo Duterte,” Malaya told his foreign counterparts.