US secretary of state hails autocratic Malaysian government

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Oct 16, 2013

(World Socialist Web Site) – The US secretary of state declared that Washington was prepared to “be both flexible and creative in order to help countries” meet the US timetable of an agreement by the end of 2013.

US Secretary of State John Kerry used his brief stopover in Kuala Lumpur last Friday to heap praise on the autocratic government of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Kerry made the visit after President Obama called off his tour of South East Asia, including summits in Bali and Brunei, as a result of the ongoing government shutdown in Washington. Obama’s visit to Malaysia would have been the first by a US president since 1966. The US focus on Malaysia and South East Asia is part of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia”—a comprehensive diplomatic, economic and military strategy aimed at reasserting US dominance in the region against potential rivals, particularly China.

Kerry used his short trip, including a speech at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, to lionise the country’s Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government. He praised Malaysia as an example for multi-racial and multi-faith democracies around the world. Malaysia, he said, was “more than a market place. It is a human and economic mosaic—and it is a model for the world.”

Kerry’s “model” democracy is one in which Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has ruled continuously through various coalitions since the country gained formal independence in 1957. Successive UMNO-led governments have clung to power through the ruthless use of police-state measures against opponents and racial-based discrimination in favour of ethnic Malays against large minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians.

For Najib, Washington’s support has been a political lifeline. In May, the BN government suffered its worst ever result, gaining 47 percent of the popular vote, compared to 50 percent for the Peoples Alliance (PA) led by Anwar Ibrahim. Due to a substantial gerrymander and alleged electoral fraud, the BN won 89 seats in the 123-member lower house of parliament and retained power.

The outcome provoked PA-led rallies throughout Malaysia involving hundreds of thousands, the largest demonstrations in Malaysia’s history. Opposition leader Anwar was clearly looking for international backing to force Najib to relinquish power or make concessions, but received none. Obama personally backed the BN “win” and the US State Department brushed aside electoral “irregularities” as an internal matter.

Similarly, the US has ignored the ongoing legal persecution of Anwar, whose acquittal on bogus sodomy charges in January 2012 is now being challenged by state prosecutors. The frame-up was launched in 2008 in a bid to behead the opposition PA coalition. Najib, who met with the chief prosecution witness before the case, has attempted to posture as a democratic reformer. He “abolished” the draconian Internal Security Act, only to imbed its anti-democratic powers, including detention without trial, in other legislation.