In 1987, when Anwar Ibrahim was education minister of Malaysia, he came to speak to my colleagues and me at an extension campus of an American university (SUNY-Buffalo, in conjunction with ITM) at Subang Jaya.

"We've been having some complaints from students," he said, "but we didn't want to make a big deal about them. We prefer to expose them to different viewpoints, to open their mind," he said.

Then he became very serious and pointed, and his manner was clearly protective. He spoke slowly, gesturing with his index finger to drive the point home: "But be very careful."

I felt as if he were talking directly to me, because in my English debate classes I had been openly critical of Mahathir and had encouraged my students - who were all Malays - to analyse his policies and statements from multiple perspectives, and not to believe everything the local, state-controlled media disseminated.

My initial 15-month contract with the university was not renewed, although I am not sure if it was because of my outspoken debate classes.

But I am sure of one thing - Anwar's warning was both prophetic and, in hindsight, ironic.

He was way ahead of his time for Malaysia, and that's why he's in prison. For the present, his country works like this: when markets are up, the dictator attributes that to Asian values and the local brand of capitalism.

When markets are down, the fearless leader - and many passive adherents to his thoughts - blame George Soros, American hegemony, and invokes the ISA to round up the usual suspects.