Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must break his silence over the issue of his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad paying lobbyists to arrange a meeting between him and US President George W Bush.

"The prime minister owes it to the people of Malaysia to give a full explanation now," said Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali.

In a statement today, he said the party demands to know what roles were played by Mahathir, former finance minister Daim Zainuddin and former deputy home minister Megat Junid in regard to all the payments.

The veteran politician was responding to Mahathir's admission yesterday that money was paid to lobby his meeting with Bush.

However, Mahathir, who stepped down in 2003, denied paying US lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who had recently pleaded guilty to fraud and corruption charges.

The Los Angeles Times last week reported that Abramoff may have helped arrange the 2002 meeting and received US$1.2 million (RM4.6 million) from the Malaysian government.

Mahathir denied that the Malaysian government had paid the money and also claimed ignorance as to who the sum was paid to.

He said the meeting was arranged by the conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation .

"He (Mahathir) claims that Heritage Foundation approached him to arrange the meeting but the truth was just the opposite," said Syed Husin.

Flashback

The opposition leader also reissued a string of details on the scandal which he released nearly a year ago.

"More than half a year ago I issued a statement regarding this scandal. Of course none of the media picked it up ( Malaysiakini had published the report ). I am reissuing it now, because it reveals many of the things that Mahathir now denies," he said.

He said the story of Abramoff started with Malaysia's effort to win over public opinion in the US and to open the way for a meeting between then prime minister Mahathir and Bush.

"After the economic downturn and the detention of ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim together with a number of others in 1998, Malaysia was strongly criticised by the media and civil society the world over, especially in the US," he added.

Heritage Foundation, he noted, joined the chorus against Malaysia when in a 1998 paper, it called upon the Clinton administration to be prepared to speak out strongly against Mahathir's actions.

"In February 1999, Heritage Foundation president Edwin J Fuelner praised (then US) vice-president Al Gore for making an impressive defence of freedom in Malaysia," he said.

Gore had ruffled feathers during an official visit to Kuala Lumpur where he praised the reformasi movement (which was launched by Anwar's supporters) during a dinner reception with Mahathir.

Terror change

However, the mood swung 180 degrees following the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US.

"The well-known anti-West Mahathir suddenly offered to cooperate with the US in the war against terrorism and stepped up military cooperation by allowing more US overflights and jungle-training programmes.

"In 2002, Heritage hosted speeches by then deputy premier Abdullah and Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak on ways to strengthen US-Malaysia friendship and defence cooperation," said the PKR leader.

As explained in a Washington Post article last year, Syed Husin said the change in mood happened at the same as time as the foundation's president co-founded a firm called the Belle Haven Consultants, which retained his wife, Linda Fuelner, as senior adviser.

Belle Haven hired Alexander Strategy Group, a Washington lobby firm run by a former chief of staff of the House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, to help represent Malaysian clients.

Abramoff was close to DeLay and the Alexander Strategy Group lobbyists.

The Megat link

"It is most instructive to learn from records of the US Senate that Malaysian client for Belle Haven Consultants is listed as PK Baru Energy. It is believed that the company was owned by Megat Junid (Megat Ayub)," said Syed Husin.

Megat Junid ( right ), he added, was a Mahathir protege who "always took pride" in the claim that he enjoyed a special relationship with the former premier.

"Interestingly, Megat Junid was also head of the US-Malaysia Exchange Association which was established as a front organisation partly to orgasnise trips and perhaps also channel funds," he added.

Apart from paying for the White House visit, Syed Husin said it was also claimed that the government paid RM40 million to Heritage Foundation through Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

"There is no concrete evidence of this. But much of the actual proof that several past payments were made can be found in the official records of the US Senate ," he added.

Beachfront think-tank

The Washington Post article had claimed that the Malaysian Embassy had paid about RM1.2 million (RM4.6 million) to the American International Centre (AIC), linked to Abramoff.

It also claimed that AIC was a front created in part to hide the lobbyist's representation of Malaysia.

The daily also discovered that AIC was a fraud establishment sited at a beach house in a resort town and the only staff that manned this international think-tank was a former life guard and yoga instructor.

"Indeed it is a great wonder why the Malaysian Embassy sent an official cheque of US$300,000 to the AIC. But, it is interesting to note that the highest officer at the embassy at that time was a brother-in-law of ex-finance minister Daim, one Dato Ghazali," said Syed Husin.