London-based the Economist magazine has published a letter from the Malaysian government rebutting allegations contained in a recent survey o­n Malaysia which criticised the leadership of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The letter , written by National Economic Action Council executive director Mustapha Mohamed, was carried o­n the latest edition of the magazine dated May 8.

In an editor's note - which appeared at the bottom of the letter - the magazine apologised for a factual mistake o­n the country's education quota policy but defended its reporting o­n other issues raised by Mustapha.

Strong reaction

In the letter, Mustapha said that the survey o­n Malaysia, carried in the magazine's April 5 edition, contained several errors and cited some examples of matters pertaining to the education quota system, the Islamic banking system and Mahathir's retirement plans.

The magazine's controversial survey o­n Malaysia was part of a series of nine articles written by the magazine's Asia-Pacific editor Christopher Lockwood.

The articles analysed the prospective leadership transition, the economic success during Mahathir's tenure and Umno's political challenges in retaining Malay support. o­ne of the reports labeled the success of the country under Mahathir - due to step down in October - as "qualified".

The survey elicited a chorus of protest from local politicians, especially from top Umno leaders.

There were calls made for the magazine to be banned, or at least to issue an apology. Lockwood told malaysiakini o­n April 30 that the magazine would not apologise and would stand by its articles.

On May 2, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government had been in communication with the magazine, which had agreed to apologise for any factual mistakes.

Following this, Mustapha was entrusted to send a letter to the magazine to outline the mistakes.

Disputed matters

In his letter, Mustapha said, "Christopher Lockwood hopes that the quota system for entry into Malaysian public universities will be abolished; yet it was discarded in 2001. He says that even foreign banks in Malaysia are obliged to provide Islamic banking services. This will come as a big surprise to Malaysia's Central Bank and the many foreign (and, for that matter, domestic) banks in Malaysia".

Mustapha also said that the magazine's assertion that Malaysian ministers will have unfettered discretion to hold suspects under the Internal Security Act was misleading.

"This will be news to Malaysia's ministers, not a single o­ne of whom has fettered or unfettered discretion 'to hold suspects'. This power lies with the police," said Mustapa.

Mustapha also referred to the "snide remarks" contained in the articles regarding many in Malaysia consider Mahathir as a dictator and that the greatest service Mahathir could render is to retire.

"With all due respect, who are the 'many' Malaysians who see Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian prime minister, more "as a jailer than a guardian of his people"? In what way has Dr Mahathir been a dictator?"

"Mr Lockwood reserves the unkindest personal cut for his final sentence: 'The greatest service Dr Mahathir could render Malaysia after all these years would be to retire, full stop.' Yet Dr Mahathir has clearly and repeatedly made known that he intends to step down completely from every government post in October.

"What is the point of telling a man to step down when he himself decided, without the slightest pressure or provocation, at the very pinnacle of his popularity, that that was exactly what he would do?" asked Mustapha.

On the issue of qualified success, Mustapha asked the Economist to "tell us what country in the world over the last 1,000 years is an unqualified, complete and utter success?"

"And pray do tell us how many developing countries have done better than Malaysia under a man whom Mr Lockwood himself acknowledges is the longest serving 'democratically elected leader in power anywhere in the world'?"

Editor's note

On the articles which touched upon the style of governance under the ruling Barisan Nasional, Mustapha wrote: "Mr Lockwood says that Malaysia's very competitive democratic system is not between political parties but 'among shifting coalitions, whose membership is never fixed for long'.

"It so happens that the Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition that has been at the centre of Malaysian politics since 1972 has been incredibly stable, with a membership practically unchanged and at the core certainly unchanged for 31 years."

The magazine responded to the letter with an editor's note, apologising for the error over the university quotas. However, they stood by the rest of the issues raised by Mustapa, stating that they leave it to their readers to judge the survey.

"A new merit-based system has been implemented this year. However, foreign banks do indeed say they feel obliged to offer Islamic banking. The composition of the Barisan Nasional does keep changing (we did not say the "core" did). Under the Internal Security Act the police act o­n the orders of the home minister, with no substantive judicial review. Readers can judge our survey for themselves here," said the magazine.

Malaysia introduced a merit-based system for last year's university intake to replace the racial quotas. However, the system has drawn criticism from the opposition because it did not result in an increase of university places for non-Malay students.

Pure dirt

Mahathir yesterday joined in the Economist -bashing exercise by labeling the survey as "pure dirt".

The premier said that he was not bothered by the criticisms levelled against him and that it was not worthwhile arguing with Western publications that had developed a biased view of Malaysia.

He added that the Economist has no credibility because "they are not reporting...what they are interested in is to run down people, be critical and that way they can sell their stupid magazine".