US President Barack Obama has postponed his much-awaited inaugural visit to Malaysia this month.

In announcing this, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was quoted as saying by Bernama that Obama decided to defer his trip due to the shutdown of the administrative operations in the United States.

Najib, who received a telephone call from Obama this morning, said he understood the internal problems faced by the president and the challenges Obama faced in raising the National Debt Ceiling on Oct 17.

“Yet, Obama expressed his intention to visit Malaysia at a date to be determined later.

“I informed him that I understand the domestic situation in the United States, which does not allow him to make an official visit now and, even if he did visit Malaysia, it would be questioned by the American community,” Najib told a press conference after launching the construction of a second hangar at the Sepang Aircraft Engineering facility.

Najib said Obama informed him that he was committed to visiting Malaysia.

“He (Obama) appreciates Malaysia’s role and the bilateral trade between Malaysia and the United States,” Najib added.

The US president was scheduled to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2013 in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 11. This would have been his first visit to Malaysia.

The White House Office of Management and Budget late on Monday ordered government agencies to begin shutting down, after Congress failed to find a compromise on a government spending bill.

To be represented by Kerry at summit

Najib said Obama would be represented at the summit by Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Trade Representative Michael Froman.

“It is very unexpected and unforeseen (on the crisis)... I empathise and understand. If I were in his shoes, I will do the same as with such a major domestic crisis, it certainly will be very hard for the US president to leave the country.”

Asked how the crisis would affect the Malaysian economy, Najib, who is also finance minister, said it would not have any impact in the immediate-term.

“But, we do not know how long the shutdown will continue.

“The most serious consequence will be on Oct 17. If they do not review the debt ceiling, that means it will have a serious consequence on the US economy. With a major slowdown and even worst, recession, that certainly will affect global growth and Malaysia as well.

“However, it is still too early to say. We will monitor the situation very closely,” he said, according to Bernama .

Asked whether Malaysia should continue with the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations as the United States, the host country, was facing a crisis, Najib said: “It is quite separate from the current crisis in the US, which is subject to internal process. It has nothing to do with the TPPA.”

Anti-TPPA protest to go on

Obama was supposed to visit Malaysia and several other South-East Asian countries, including Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines, from Oct 6 to 12 as part of his ongoing commitment to increase America's political, economic and security engagements with the Asia-Pacific region.

Before coming to Malaysia, he was scheduled to go to Indonesia to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting.

In a related development, the Bantah TPPA coalition, comprising 60 groups who are against Malaysia's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, has vowed to continue their demonstration on Oct 11 in Kuala Lumpur.

"Regardless of who represents the USA, the country aligned to Zionism, imperialism, oppressive capitalism, bully tactics, Islamophobia and the main instigator of the TPPA which has a hidden agenda.

"Obama's absence doesn't mean Malaysia is excluded from the TPPA and thus the people have to unite and show their protest against the secretive TPPA," the group's spokesperson said.

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