How strange, that the reverberations of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's much hyped-about visit to the United States more than two weeks ago continue in the mainstream press. Of the three western powers that stretched out their welcoming arms to Abdullah, America was, beyond all doubt, the one that was uppermost in the prime minister's mind.

And it takes Brenda Pereira of the New Sunday Times to convey this plain truth to the Malaysian reader. Indeed, a cautious and in-depth analysis on the coverage of our media for the past month reveals a hidden but vital message behind the puffed-up headlines: the recalcitrant Dr Mahathir Mohamad is gone, and let's have a fresh start with the Yanks.

So, when Pereira commented that there had been no rancour or strident language between Abdullah and President Bush, what the journalist essentially meant was that Mahathir had been rather vengeful and even crude most of the times, unbecoming of a national leader and at the expense of Malaysia's trade and strategic interests with the US.

Marie T Huhtala, the former US Ambassador to Malaysia, nearly forsook diplomatic courtesy last May by telling a forum in no fine language that 'virulent remarks by certain Malaysian leaders threaten to undermine progress in rebuilding the strained bilateral relationship'.

It was a simple message, loud and clear, and I reckon it did send many in the Malaysian officialdom into a panic.

Huge success

I am more than happy to see Huhtala back in the NST again, being interviewed by Rajan Moses. Now Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs in the State Department, Huhtala talks enthusiastically about the 'huge success' of Abdullah's visit for both countries. Does this mean there had been no achievements of this scale insofar as Malaysia-US relations are concerned during Mahathir's reins?

As a truly Asian Malaysian, in which hospitality is aplenty, I would urge Huhtala to spend her furlough in Malaysia whenever possible. With Mahathir very much in the background, she would find an amazingly changed country from the media coverage on issues pertaining to Malaysia and the US, to the way our officials engage publicly with their American counterparts and probably enjoy her stay much better than when she had to deal with the loose cannon in Putrajaya, whose frequent umbrage at Washington was perhaps too much for any American to bear.

Yes, there is a new Iraq but please don't forget to give this new Malaysia a chance too.

I may have sounded rather sarcastic so far, but this is not to gainsay Abdullah's sincerity in seeking to improve Malaysia's relations with our single most important trade partner. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Since Abdullah has been working so eagerly and energetically to prove to the US that Malaysia means genuine friendship (and business), it is therefore right and proper for President Bush to ask for help in these needful times.

For the past week, the Malaysian government has had to deal with the tricky and delicate question of whether our country, as the chair of the Organisation for the Islamic Conference, should gather a few Muslim nations for a contingent to be dispatched to Iraq.

The waves of kidnapping and beheading of hostages have no doubt taken the wind out of the US effort to persuade others to hold fast in Iraq. For safety's sake, even sending a medical team as part of the humanitarian operation is taking the Malaysian government a long time to decide.

Saudi Arabia proposed that a peacekeeping force be sent from among the Muslim nations, but Abdullah remains non-committal. The Saudi proposal is, in fact, a proxy request from the US.

Daunting task

When Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the socialist prime minister of Spain, decided to call home the troops sent to Iraq by his predecessor Jose Mario Aznar, Washington was gravely concerned over a possible domino effect. Indeed, with the exception of the United Kingdom and Australia, the two staunchest allies in Bush's coalition of the willing, there is always a possibility of troop pullout by other coalition partners.

Not long after the Madrid bomb blast that killed nearly 200 in March, Poland was reported to contemplate a withdrawal from Iraq as well. Leszek Miller, the out-going prime minister at that time, said Poland 'cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that Spain and others are leaving Iraq'. Warsaw is in charge of a multinational contingent of 9,500 troops in central Iraq, with itself contributing some 2,400. Quite clearly, any Polish retreat from the Middle East would be a severe blow to the Bush administration.

After Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic have also withdrawn their troops from Iraq. Although their contributions were small, the demoralising effect is clear nonetheless.

To arrest the situation, Colin Powell once stressed to Kostyantyn Gryschchenko, Ukraine's foreign minister, the importance of stepping up political contacts between coalition countries on key questions involving the future of Iraq. However, to ensure that his man be elected to succeed him in October, President Leonid Kuchma is now considering bringing his troops back in order to sooth public anger. Ukraine has sent 1,650 soldiers to Iraq, just behind the UK, Italy and Poland.

Other coalition partners have relatively small numbers of troops, but their presence in Iraq can help keep a sense of solidarity with the US, however feeble it may be. There is also no question that some of these countries are there in order not to harm their trade interests and military cooperation with Washington, such as Thailand, Japan and South Korea, while others are hoping that, by sending troops to Iraq, their destitute coffers can save costs on upgrading necessary defence technologies and logistics, as well as receiving modern military training provided by the Americans that is not available at home.

This explains, to some extent, the token presence of the Mongolian, Kazakh, Macedonian and Moldovan troops in Iraq.

Therefore, if there indeed was a coalition of the willing at the start of the Iraq war in March last year, it is now fast becoming a coalition of the reluctant. Given such situation, the US has no option but to try to talk other Muslim nations into filling up the gap.

No easy task. While our leaders are agonizing over whether to send a medical team or a peacekeeping force to Iraq, the mainstream media is facing the tough job of convincing a sceptical Malaysian public, the Muslims especially, that either move would be in the interest of the nation.

Having worked up so much anti-US sentiment at Mahathir's behest, it seems the task to defuse it is equally daunting. For one moment, I am losing my interest to pursue a career in the Malaysian media.