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Sauce for Najib is not sauce for Anwar

The Malaysian defence minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, commits every sin in the book as the jailed former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when he called on the US defence secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, at the Pentagon early this month (May 2002). Both went with the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed's blessings, but one stuck to his feudal script and other did not. One returns in honour and the other sits in his lonely prison cell in Sungei Buloh. Dato' Seri Najib went to lay the groundwork for Dr Mahathir to officially embrace Washington. He is honoured and praised for his role in fracturing Malaysia's foreign policy of equidistance into one of total reliance on Washington where it matters. He is warmly received, he made commitments to allow as many as 1,000 US military overflights over Malaysia every month, reinforced US-military links, took the United States into his confidence than he would ever the Malaysian public. Yet, Malaysia has for the past 35 years prided in its foreign policy of equidistance from the Big Powers. Dato' Seri Anwar did not such thing. If he had, he would probably be hanged as a traitor by now.

US is the sole super power, but it is now engaged in a not too subtle policy of containing China. Dato' Seri Najib's visit puts Malaysia firmly in the US camp in this looming contest. And to put pressure, at Washington's bidding, on Indonesia if that nation decides to act independently of the United States. Dr Mahathir has left for Washington to confirm this new role of national subservience to a foreign power. This, we are told, is in this larger worldwide war on Islamic terror, but it is more. The US has satraps and client states around the world to fight its enemies. The end of the Cold War changed not the policy but the satraps and client states. It has India now in South Asia. And Malaysia in Southeast Asia. Singapore allowed the United States to establish bases, allow her navy ships to be repaired, have a battalion or two of US troops, but stopped short of direct commitment as Kuala Lumpur wants. Malaysia does not get the bases but allows herself to be tarred with the US super power brush more contentiously than Singapore ever would.

Dr Mahathir insists he will hold his ground, speak his tongue, and his alliance with Washington is only to fight Islamic terror, one he suggests in Malaysia as dangerous and violent as Washington's global guerrilla enemy. This is easier said than done. When Malaysia accepts Washington's anti-terror embrace it is conditional on doing whatever else it wants her to perform. Washington has kept him at a distance, accusing his administration of serious human rights violations and of how it treats the jailed former deputy prime minister. That it wants an accommodation with Dr Mahathir now is not a change of heart but for policy considerations. Dr Mahathir wants one at all cost. And goes as a supplicant. Since he disallows contradictory views in the mainstream media, people only know what he tells them. Even what Malaysian ministers tell foreigners at home and abroad are studiously kept out of the Malaysian press if it threatens political damaging. As this visit certainly is.

Dato' Seri Najib visit this month to the Pentagon damages Malaysia more than Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's ever did - or could. The latter's visit, so Dr Mahathir insists, was proof of treachery, for which what he suffers is not enough. He was given a Pentagon guard of honour -- a routine event to impress sundry politicians and Third World leaders who lay great store of such things -- but that was proof in Kuala Lumpur of national perfidy. So would Dato' Seri Najib, though he could well have refused it. What Dato' Seri Anwar did was to project himself. He did it on his own, outside the constricting circle surrounding Dr Mahathir. And since it was part of a larger campaign to edge Dr Mahathir out, he had to be destroyed. So what he did in Washington, was in Dr Mahathir's eyes, despicable. What Dato' Seri Najib, on the other hand, did is proof of his political maturity.

Dato' Seri Anwar's naivete and trusting nature sank him; his own co-conspirators told senior UMNO leader of his plans. He -- like Dato' Fadhil Noor of PAS -- thought he could edge Dr Mahathir out when he wanted. He could not. There is no treachery more frightening in failure in the Malay feudal code than to seek the removal of the feudal lord. And he pays the price. On the other hand, if the feudal lord demands that his chieftains commit treachery in his name, they are rewarded. Personal loyalty of the chieftain to the feudal lord is more highly valued even if that loyalty is detrimental to the nation. This is played out now. All that matters for Dr Mahathir is to have that tea and scones at the White House. Dato' Seri Najib helped it along. Washington is prepared to give Dr Mahathir what he wants not because it wants it but is unavoidably necessary in this global war on terror it launched in panic after the events of 11 September 2002.

This is not to suggest US sidelined her concerns over Dato' Seri Anwar. She has not. With Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the most prominent Amnesty International's "Prisoner of Conscience". The pressure will grow to put the spotlight on this disabled prisoner in Sungei Buloh. It is a matter of time before it does. The NGOs -- as distinct from the GONGOs (government-organised non governmental organisations) like Suhakam -- and especially Amnesty International, would not let go of a cause it deems worthy of its support.

No one thought that such powerful individuals as General Augustino Pinochet and Mr Henry Kissinger would shiver at what it could wrought, but they did and do. It succeeded in getting world opinion to its belief in their perfidy. Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi is released now because of that sustained campaign. It is a matter of time before Dato' Seri Anwar, as Amnesty International's most highranking "Prisoner of Conscience" takes the spot she vacates. Even if in Malaysia Dr Mahathir successfully got PAS and UMNO to return to the Malay politics before Dato' Seri Anwar threw a spanner in the works.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my