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US-Malaysia Ties Still Muddled By The Anwar Affair

The US secretary of state, Mr Colin Powell, passed through Kuala Lumpur this week, with a not-too-subtle warning that the jailed former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, continues to impinge on bilater ties. His counterpart, Malaysian foreign minister, Dato' Syed Hamid Albar, impotent and frustrated, wanted bilateral ties anchored on more than one man or one issue. Mr Powell ignored him. The less than subtle hint that Malaysia's regional role in the US war on terror is conditional on its human rights record, the main prop of which is the political vendetta against Dato' Seri Anwar. Mr Powell contradicts Dato' Seri Syed Albar to make clear Dato' Seri Anwar was convicted in unfair trials for his political views. Malaysia's role in the US war on terror, he implied, depends on to its human rights record, and what happens to one man, with pressure not let up.

Dato' Seri Anwar's wife, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, met senior State Department officials for breakfast at the residence of the US ambassador, Mrs Marie Huhtala to discuss her husband's plight. Mr Powell would have been there but for a request from the visiting Ghaniain president to see him. The Malaysian government would wish Dato' Seri Anwar disappear into the woodwork, as no doubt Pretoria once of Mr Mandela and Britain of the Mahatma. But it cannot now go away. When the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, called on President Bush in the White House, it was made clear to him bilateral ties were linked to the travails of Dato' Seri Anwar. Malaysia can pressure other visiting dignitaries from calling on the Opposition, but it cannot the United States.

The CNN and White House press interviews made that clear. Which explains his claim CNN treated him unfairly. When Mr Powell reaffirms its stand at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's options reduce by the day. Malaysia would face more pressure overseas over Dato' Seri Anwar than ever before. Where once it was a blip, it is now central in Washington's ties to Malaysia. Instead of addressing the Anwar affair as a sign of what it is to come, Malaysia stonewalled it, would not explain its position except in an offhanded way, and lost the advantage.

Malaysia finds its credibility overseas stunted because one man is in jail. South Africa could insist with greater confidence Mr Nelson Mandel was jailed after a fair trial; the British administration in India that Mahatma Gandhi was jailed according to the laws of the land; as Malaysia now Dato' Seri Anwar is jailed after a fair trial. The apartheid governmentn collapsed, the British left India, the Malaysian government must face the music.

For like Mr Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, Dato' Seri Anwar has become the lightning rod which brings the government to its knees. Dr Mahathir saw the Anwar threat as the beginningn of a revolution, which in one sense it was, and used the might of the police to break it down harshly. He is still frightened of his shadow. Dato' Seri Anwar cannot come to court without Kuala Lumpur full of armed policemen to forestall any visible support for him. The more often this happens, the more difficult it is accept Dato' Seri Syed Hamid's claim of how scrupulously the rule of law was applied in his flawed trial.

Dato' Seri Anwar challenged the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, lost and pays the price. The trials were warped, to convict at any cost, to destroy an inconvenient opponent. Like the South African government on Mr Mandela, the Malaysian government had to put him away. Both misunderstood the power they represented, thought the back of the resistance broken by what they did, only to find it growing by the day. Unlike South Africa and British India, Malaysia panicked when Dato' Seri Anwar, after his dismissal, took to the streets. Within months of his arrest, the then US vice president, Mr Al Gore, came to Kuala Lumpur with a stirring speech to support the Reformasi movement Dato' Seri Anwar unleashed.

When he lost the US presidential election to President George Bush, Malaysia thought relations were on the mend. It was not. The Malaysian foreign ministry does not understand how the US government works, that several concentric circles of power have their own agendas which conflict with each other, and shoot themselves in the foot every time. Dr Mahathir could not get his meeting with President Bush because the State Department and the National Security Council were not keen they meet. Until the unofficial channels were used. Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Khas, the former cabinet minister, who got the Bush meeting, not Dato' Syed Hamid or Wisma Putra.

The Malaysian government has lost control of the Anwar affair. It dominates local politics, even if not as apparent, the feudal hurt in the Anwar affair now the mainstay of political opposition to the government. With Dato' Seri enchaining it in foreign affairs, the government must go for the jugular. The Prime Minister's racist remarks in light of Pendang and Anak bye-elections is one facet of it. His irritation at PAS and its Islamic agenda another. The silence of those who must speak out, in the cabinet and UMNO, is a third. When only one man makes all the statements and the decisions, especially one who is to retire in 16 months, the disquiet even amongst those who believe Dato' Seri Anwar deserves more than what he got speaks volumes. It could, must, lead to another arrest of political opponents. But could the government afford that?

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