Oddly, Phillipines President Rodrigo Duterte aka ‘The Punisher’ isn’t known for his soft side. Instead, Duterte is infamous for his use of obscene language and inciting extrajudicial killings. So it comes as a wee shock that on a state visit to Malaysia he teamed up with Malaysian PM Najib Razak for a good old warm-hearted karaoke battle.

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Footage posted by the Presidential Communications team has emerged of Duterte singing Bette Midler’s ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ at a state dinner.

Even better, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also performed his own version of ‘The Young Ones’ by Cliff Richard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NArTpgqdAU8

The sing-off was filmed on Thursday in Malaysia.

The usually hard line politicians then did a duet of ‘Sha-La-La-La-La-La’ by Danish rock band The Walkers. Najib even did a little dance as he sang. Cute?

In a more official statement, Najib told reporters that at their talks earlier in the day, the Philippines had agreed with Indonesia and Malaysia to allow security forces to make ‘hot pursuits’ in its territorial waters.

Aptly nicknamed ‘The Punisher’, Duterte launched a drug war after being elected in May and figures released last month reveal that more than 3,600 people had been killed in four months.

Activists believe a large number of these deaths were vigilante killings, with 1,377 shot during police operations.In September, Duterte shared his response to criticisms from U.S. officials, calling Barack Obama a “son of a whore.”

Durterte has also previously compared himself to Hitler and pledged to “slaughter three million drug addicts” – a remark he later retracted and apologised for. Geez.

Still, he’s got the right idea with using karaoke as a strategy to secure unyielding political deals.