COMMENT | Last week, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that he had written to US President Donald Trump, seeking his support to organise a meeting between Asean and the United States.

It is unlikely that Trump will accord US-Asean status, as he prefers bilateral trade negotiations between individual countries, believing he will have better negotiating power and perhaps be easier to shout down.

However, if Anwar believes it will be a repeat of the orchestrated trip by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in 2017, where the latter, among others, offered to help Trump "make America great again," he is mistaken.

Although Najib told Parliament that he did not pay to meet Trump, it was subsequently revealed in court hearings that Grammy Award-winning rapper...