No Obama meeting for Anwar in next week’s visit
The Malaysian Insider – 8 hours agoRELATED CONTENT
- No Obama meeting for Anwar in next week’s visit
President Barack Obama does not plan to see opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim when he is in Kuala Lumpur next week, though US officials yesterday did not rule out a lower-level meeting.
Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit Malaysia in nearly half a century when he touches down in the country on April 26.
Washington has expressed disquiet about what it says are politically motivated charges to keep the veteran opposition leader out of Malaysian politics.
In March, the Malaysian Court of Appeals overturned Anwar's 2012 acquittal on sodomy charges which date from a bitter power struggle with his then rival, prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, in the 1990s.
Anwar, 66, was sentenced to five years in jail but is currently free pending an appeal to the Federal Court, Malaysia's highest judicial body.
Asked whether Obama would make time during his schedule in Malaysia, which includes a state dinner and talks with Prime Minister Najib Razak, national security advisor Susan Rice indicated he would not.
"I think that the president is not likely to have that meeting – there may be other engagements at other levels," said Rice.
Obama will however hold a town hall meeting with what he calls young leaders from all over Southeast Asia and will also meet civil society representatives in Kuala Lumpur.
Obama's trip, which begins in Japan, also includes stops in South Korea and the Philippines. – AFP, April 19, 2014.
NEW YORK: United States President Barack Obama's visit to Asia, which includes Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, at the end of April is expected to focus on a number of bilateral and regional issues.
United States principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Asia Pacific at the Department of State, Scot Marciel, said: "Some of the issues that will likely come up for discussion between President Obama and the Malaysian side will include business ties, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and bilateral trade."
The former US ambassador to Indonesia spoke to Bernama about Obama's much-awaited visit to Malaysia on the sidelines of a conference on Monday on "Managing Risk in Asean: Opportunities and Challenges", jointly hosted by the US-Asean Business Council and the American-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce at New York's Yale Club.
This will be the first official visit by a US president to Malaysia since former President Lyndon Johnson's visit in 1966.
At the conference, Marciel gave an overview of the situation in Southeast Asia, highlighting both opportunities and challenges in the Asean region.
Marciel said: "China's slowdown opens up opportunities for the Asean countries in terms of investment and trade. Asean is a very important region, and we support the AEC (Asean Economic Community in 2015)."
He also made a strong pitch for the TPP - Malaysia is one of the Asean members being urged to join this group - and described it as an "engine of growth".
"This (TPP) will be important for the region's growth and prosperity," he said.
Meanwhile, some experts on Asean told Bernama on the sidelines of the conference that Obama will give his support to Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) which the latter had passionately presented during his speech at the United Nations' General Assembly in September 2013.
Indeed, some of President Obama's advisors would like to see a strategic relationship evolve between the two countries, similar to the one which Washington has with Singapore and Thailand.
US diplomats also expect the Malaysian side to discuss intensifying defence ties with the United States.
Malaysia's significance, as US business and industry agree, is growing in terms of its size and regional importance.
Besides being an influential member of the Asean and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Malaysia is perceived to be a moderate Islamic multi-cultural country.
"The key word is moderation. Malaysia could make an attractive partner if it is able to maintain its moderate stand in all spheres," one American businessman, who attended the conference, told Bernama.
Experts believe that both sides would probably announce the formation of various high-level working groups to address and develop specific political, economic, security and socio-cultural issues. – Bernama
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