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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stitch who wrote (4380)	6/11/1998 12:05:00 PM
From: Bill Ounce	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9980

Malaysian PM Dismisses Comparison with Indonesia From: Theotherhalf <mobile@tm.net.my> Newsgroups: soc.culture.malaysia Subject: Malaysian PM Dismisses Comparison with Indonesia Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 02:22:43 +0000 Malaysian PM Dismisses Comparison with Indonesia Reuters 10-JUN-98 KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has dismissed suggestions that Malaysia could face upheaval like Indonesia's and said he gets along with his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, despite differences. But an opposition leader accused the government on Wednesday of ignoring the lessons to be drawn from recent unrest in Indonesia and cracking down on civil liberties. In an interview published in Time magazine, Mahathir was asked if the recent events in Indonesia, where former president Suharto stepped down last month amid social upheaval, had any bearing on Malaysia. ''Yes, because Western experts cannot distinguish between Indonesia and Malaysia. They expect what happens to Indonesia must happen to Malaysia. ''This is self-fulfilling because they will publish their analysis and be believed. The economic attack on Malaysia will be increased. After a long time they might just notice the difference and desist. Malaysia will survive.'' With Suharto's resignation, Mahathir, 72, became the longest-serving elected leader in the region. The Malaysian prime minister came to power in 1981. Analysts have said Suharto's departure inevitably throws a spotlight on Mahathir but that the two countries are substantially different and the transition of power in Malaysia has historically been peaceful and smooth. Mahathir has tapped Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, 50, to be his successor. Last week, Mahathir told Reuters in an interview that he would have no problem stepping down, but he wanted to wait until the end of the current economic crisis. Responding to a statement by Time that differences between Anwar and him had widened over the past year, Mahathir said in the interview with the magazine: ''Do I have to kiss him on the street before people will stop saying there is a rift? ''We get on together, we manage this country together. I admit we have differences, but in the end a common view prevails.'' Mahathir and Anwar have staked out divergent positions on interest rates and the causes of the economic crisis. The prime minister has pressed for a reduction in the cost of money while Anwar, who is also finance minister, has noted that capital will rush out of the country, undercutting the ringgit, if rates are too low. Anwar has not shied away from publicly calling for an end to corruption and nepotism. Unlike Mahathir, who has blamed the economic crisis squarely on foreign speculators, Anwar has said internal weaknesses contributed to some of the problems. ''If we are unwilling to accept this, then we may face the Indonesian situation where the people demanded for changes,'' the Star newspaper quoted Anwar as saying on Monday. ''Therefore, we have to make changes before it is too late.'' Lim Kit Siang, secretary general of the opposition Democratic Action Party, said the government had failed to draw the appropriate lessons from Indonesia's unrest. Kit Siang said police had refused to issue a permit for a meeting of opposition leaders set for later on Wednesday outside the capital. He said it was the fourth public meeting to be banned by police in 10 days. ''It is most unfortunate and tragic that Malaysia is going against the world tide for greater democratisation,'' he said. ''In Indonesia, the people who have been muzzled for three decades are beginning to experience a new freedom of expression,'' Kit Siang said in a statement. ''But in Malaysia, the government has suddenly become afraid of the voice of the people and is imposing restrictions on civil liberties and democratic freedoms which had never been imposed in the past when the country was under emergency rule whether because communist insurrection or Indonesian confrontation.''