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Expect of Trump what you would from Obama

COMMENT Personally, I am not impressed with US President Donald Trump.

Unlike most people who were following closely the US presidential election, I was not interested in who became the next president. They are all the same.

That is the reason why I made no comments about the US presidential race until now. At the end of the day, they will come and go, but life still goes on.

Some 100,000 Malaysians signed the petition urging Barack Obama to intervene in former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim’s jail sentence, but Obama did nothing about it despite being confronted with a golden opportunity.

It was all empty promises for those of us who signed the petition.

We do not expect Trump to do anything about it, too. Trump, like Obama, will remain oblivious to what is happening in the world other than what matters to the Americans.

Therefore, I would not expect Trump to do anything drastic to help Malaysians to get rid of the kleptocrats who are now running the nation.

Like Obama, Trump would rather be seen playing golf with even the allegedly most corrupt leaders in the world than to remove them, unless American interests are at stake. How would billions of ringgit missing from Malaysia affect the Americans?

What the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) did was probably just a show, but my suspicion is that under Trump, the case may be given the lowest priority. He would not even allow the new attorney-general to pursue the matter further than what was already done by the former attorney-general.

Unless, of course, if it is the supply of oil that is at stake - they would go to war for it. But if it is the killing of thousands of Christians or Muslims at the hands of the extremists all in the name of religion, Trump would not be interested. The key word is ‘American’.

If Anwar were American, his incarceration would be likely to attract Trump’s attention but despite worldwide condemnation of the jail sentence, Trump is unlikely to spend even a minute of his time on the matter.

He would not care what the world thinks about him. This is the American mindset. He could have done something to right the situation, but he would not budge simply because there are no self-serving interests at stake.

This is after all how ‘incorruptible’ America really is. No? We always think that America is interested in what is happening in the world, but for too long, America has departed from championing human rights. They will listen, but they will do nothing other than to achieve their own selfish objectives.

After all, this was exactly what happened when Obama was in Malaysia wooing the nation’s leaders to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.(TPPA). He held a talk with activists and students, heard them, but did nothing about it. He chose this non-interference stance because his priority was the TPPA.

For that reason, I do not have much confidence in Trump to be an effective world leader. It is America’s interests that come first. Eventually, it is ‘No Action, Talk Only’.

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