US State Secretary Powell takes anti-terror message to Dr M
US secretary of state Colin Powell brought his anti-terror message to Malaysia on Tuesday as he continued a six-nation tour of Southeast Asia in the first of the three Muslim countries in the region he is to visit.
Once a target for US criticism for his authoritarian tactics, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a moderate Islamic leader who has the ear of the Muslim world, has emerged as a firm backer of the war on terrorism since the Sept 11 attacks.
Despite its appreciation for the support of Mahathir - whom President George W Bush welcomed at the White House in May - Washington is not entirely comfortable with Kuala Lumpur and does not consider it an "ally" in the traditional sense.
"Malaysia is not an ally," a senior State Department official travelling with Powell said tersely on Monday, applying that designation only to Thailand and the Philippines.
"But (Malaysia) is a friend and it takes a great deal of pride in being a country with a majority Islamic population (that) also has leadership that has been staunch in opposition to terrorism, no matter what kind of clothing it may wear," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Those remarks came in response to a question about Mahathir's hosting last week of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, whose country has been labelled by Bush as one-third of "an axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea.
Khatami took the opportunity to trash US foreign policy and discuss with an apparently receptive Mahathir the idea of creating an Islamic bloc of nations to rival Washington's status as the world's lone superpower.
'Not as an ally'
Asked whether the United States would like to recruit Mahathir as an ally, the official replied in the negative.
"I don't think we are seeking to make allies but we are seeking cooperation with allies which are trying to be helpful and trying to develop themselves," the official said.
Mahathir, who leads a multi-cultural country, has been responsive to US requests to crack down on Osama bin Laden's brand of militant Islam, arresting suspected extremists.
Still, the US official said the United States was uneasy with the human rights situation in Malaysia, notably with the case of Mahathir's sacked and jailed former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, who it has described as a political prisoner.
Anwar, who was sacked in 1998 and later jailed on corruption and sex charges, says he was framed to prevent a political challenge to Mahathir, who has been in power for 21 years.
Unforgotten issue
Although public US criticism of Mahathir over the Anwar case has all but vanished in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks, the official said Washington had not dropped the matter.
"We haven't forgotten about him (Anwar) at all and human rights in Malaysia is something that will come up in our discussions," he said.
From Malaysia, Powell heads to Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines, spending less than 24 hours in each capital except for Bandar Seri Begawan.
In Brunei, Powell will stay for two days attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) that is expected to produce a joint US-Asean declaration against international terrorism. AFP
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