Asian Crisis

Mahathir dishes it out and gets it back

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has returned to Kuala Lumpur from the United States, where he took the occasion to again heap criticism on the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But he also received the same from a group of demonstrators who called him a ''dictator''.

In Chicago, Mahathir again slammed the IMF and foreign currency traders in Malaysia for their role in the 1997 financial crisis.

He criticized the IMF's conventional belt-tightening measures and said developed nations tried ''to promote their political agenda''.

Mahathir had blamed uncontrolled short-term capital flows and currency speculation for the fall of the Malaysian ringgit against the US dollar at the height of the crisis, and imposed currency trading curbs in 1998.

''It is because of this political agenda that the international financial system not only permitted but at times even encouraged currency trading,'' he was quoted as saying in Chicago. Currency trading, he added, was ''a totally unnecessary activity''.

He made those remarks as he received a lifetime achievement award in economics from Lariba, a California-based firm offering financial services according to Islamic principles.

Mahathir also attended a closed-door meeting with the US-Asean Business Council in Chicago and visited the Motorola Center in Schaumburg. He also held meetings with corporate leaders, venture capitalists and leaders of various Muslim groups.

In New York, the prime minister took part in the poorly attended special G-77 summit and met Cuban President Fidel Castro. The poor attendance at the G-77 meeting was blamed on the short notice.

Mahathir described the decision-making process of the G-77 as ''bulky and unwieldy'' as any decision by the grouping requires the consensus of all its 130-odd member nations.

''In the G-77, everything must be done through consensus by the 130 heads of government. Obviously it is bulky and unwieldy,'' he told reporters on his return to Kuala Lumpur.

Mahathir, who deliberately stayed away from the UN Millenniumm Summit, noted that compared with the G-8 grouping of the developed nations, the G-77 found it more difficult to conduct meetings due to the sheer size of the grouping.

One speaking engagement in the US however, was cancelled after the Islamic Society of North America withdrew an invitation for Mahathir to address its annual convention in Rosemont, Illinois from September 1-4.

ISNA, an umbrella grouping of Muslim organizations, said it had received protests from members unhappy about the treatment meted out to ousted Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, now serving jail terms totaling 15 years.

Opposition writer Raja Petra Kamarudin reported that several large government-linked Malaysian firms that had paid for a booth at the ISNA convention failed to show up.

At the convention, some participants condemned Mahathir's actions against Anwar and felt he had blundered.

Members of the "Free Anwar" campaign circulated the text of a message in Anwar's handwriting which read: ''All over the world, Muslims are confronted with tyranny, oppression, denial of basic rights, and assaults on their dignity as Muslims and as men.

''The world is progressing towards transparent governance, but in large sections of the Muslim world, corruption and abuse of power continue unabated,'' observed Anwar.

''While the rest of the world is moving towards democracy and humane governance Muslim rulers are oppressing their own citizenry, often times in a manner more brutal than the colonial regimes.''

''The true price tag for economic prosperity should not and must not be authoritarianism,'' the message said. Economic prosperity, he said, cannot legitimize tyranny.

While Mahathir addressed more than 350 Malaysian supporters in a hotel outisde Chicago, a group of Americans and Malaysians held a demonstration against Anwar's imprisonment.

The protesters shouted slogans like ''Hey, Hey! Ho! Ho! Mahathir got to go'', and "Reformasi". The chanting grew louder as Mahathir's convoy approached a suburban hotel, a news report said.

Carrying flags of the Malaysian opposition parties and denouncing Mahathir as a dictator, the protesters briefly ran alongside his limousine as it pulled up at the hotel.

It was the first demonstration the premier had encountered outside Malaysia since Anwar's ouster unleashed the country's "reformasi" movement.

While Mahathir was in the US, the independent Internet newspaper "Malaysiakini" published a couple of articles written by former US Ambassador to Malaysia John Mallot denying allegations that Anwar was ever a US spy.

Mallot, now retired from government service and residing in California, said before Anwar was arrested in September 1998, the rumors started to fly that he would be arrested under the ISA as a national security threat.

''At that point, I went to a very senior official in the Malaysian government and told him officially, on behalf of my government, that Anwar was not a CIA agent,'' he said.

Mallot warned that if the Malaysian government arrested Anwar and claimed that he was an American agent, he would challenge the Malaysian government to offer any proof. The lie, he told the official, would be exposed for what it was. ''He squirmed in his chair,'' observed Mallot of the official's reaction.

Undoubtedly, Mahathir is increasingly finding out that no matter where he goes Anwar's shadow is never far away. Now back in Malaysia, Mahathir has to once again contend with the opposition that refuses to be cowed to silence.

(Inter Press Service)