COMMENT News that President Barrack Obama of the United States will not be meeting with Anwar Ibrahim is disappointing. It can be expected - if Obama was a cruel dictator.
But for the leader of the world's most influential democracy to give our country's opposition leader the official snub is regrettable and an affront to the country's democrats.
America is the proven remover of despots and dictators. It is a country that sacrificed countless young American lives in the defence of a 'free world' in many places.
It fought a civil war at home to free slaves and end racial discrimination. And if not largely for the Americans, we in Asia would still be part of the Japanese Imperial Empire.
So the presidential snub of Anwar Ibrahim seems out of sync with established American democratic ideals, its innate national sense of justice and its history of promoting democracy abroad.
President Obama himself will appear to have lost his credentials as a promoter of democracy, protector of truth and defender of justice and this is not the sort of change he should be remembered for in the final years of his leadership.
It is not often American presidents come to this region, so they should make it count for democracy.
Obama gave the world the audacity to hope. He is a man of humble beginnings and a champion of radical political reform, who made great speeches on freedom and swung the political bat for the underdog.
He was the foremost apologist for change, and made American history by his election to his country's highest public office. He is admired for his oratory.
But, has the Obama bubble burst?
Has his inability in real life to influence repressive regimes to be more democratic and consistent with his country's democratic ideals caught up with his oratory and exposed its hollowness?
Talk that’s only meant to inspire?
Are the ideals of freedom and justice President Obama often conveys so eloquently in his impeccable oratory only meant to inspire, like some great work of literature and performing art?
But not for him to act out and bring to life, to be practised as he preached, and to achieve the reality for those living under the political jackboots of democratic misfits in 'misguided' democracies?
Is he afraid to offend certain foreign leaders when it counts?
Is he more interested in doing deals with the “devil we know” than upholding the democratic principles and traditions for which his country is renowned?
And is he only prepared to trade democratic ideals, truth and justice, the foundational pillars of his country that repressed countries badly need, in exchange for short-term American trade advantage in the region and elsewhere?
These are hard questions because America is where we look for hope, justice and democracy, and for the defence of a free world. The world looks to America. We are thus obliged to hold America accountable for its commitment to democracy, not only at home but abroad.
It is an expectation American leaders have groomed the world to believe in for a long time. America is the beacon of justice and democracy.
But is that about to change?
As for integrity, how truthful was it when his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a fleeting visit to Malaysia some years ago and extolled its democracy in abject disregard of the country's abysmal human rights record and persecution of dissidents and political opponents?
Obama must know proper protocol
Surely someone as erudite as President Obama must know that it is proper protocol to meet with the leader of the opposition, the alternative country leader, when you visit a democratic country.
It is the proper protocol for those visiting countries with a Westminster style of government, such as Malaysia's. You see it in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. You also see it in European democracies.
So, why the exception in Malaysia?
Are Asian opposition leaders any less important to democracy and to visiting heads of government? Why prop up the undemocratic policies or false protocol of anti-democracy leaders and play into their undemocratic ways?
It would be wrong to think American leaders can be cowed. They are not cowards and we have Vice-President Joe Biden (on the left) to prove it when he made his recent trip to Ukraine to stand alongside their besieged political leaders.
How can any leader be a coward with the world's strongest military arsenal at his disposal?
But a leader can be a letdown. A leader can lose the moral authority. A leader can be despised for being a strawman and a false hope. A leader can fall from the moral high ground.
We marvelled at American political rhetoric. President Obama's oratory, such as, "We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honour those ideals by upholding them now, when it's easy and when it is hard." (Nobel Lecture, Dec 10, 2009)
But the reality?
How hard is it for the world's greatest democrat, the most powerful person on this planet, the one that few country leaders would dare to oppose, to meet with Malaysia's most unjustly persecuted and prosecuted citizen who also happens to be the country's opposition leader?
It will not be hard if you put principles in politics and justice in diplomacy and pursue truth and believe you cannot trade away the principles your country is admired for and not think only of self-interests and cloak them in sugary words like national interest.
Yes, We Can! This was Obama’s campaign slogan in 2008.
Americans pride themselves in upholding open political and ideological dissent as the hallmark of democracy and in defending democrats, everywhere, against acts of injustice.
It is not the time for America to backslide and be accused of being a democratic apostate. The world needs direction, not desertion.
Democracy is still in the minority
Democracy is still in the minority in the world and America's shyness in flexing its democratic muscles in Asia will further erode its moral authority and cause it to lose real friends.
Sadly, however, President Obama will let down the majority of Malaysians unless he does the right thing, instead of hiding behind a spurious protocol.
It may yet prove a rueful and costly inconsistency when moral courage gives way to selective engagement.
Some day, God willing, victimised Anwar Ibrahim may stand before the nation and echo the words of President Obama, in a speech Obama made on Jan 8, 2008:
"I will never forget that the only resaon I'm standing here today is because somebody somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they managed to change the world."
Inspiring words, indeed. But when will he stand up for justice, for Anwar Ibrahim like former vice-president Al Gore and former American ambassador to Malaysia John Malott did?
John Malott, who has served his country for 30 years as an ambassador, deputy assistant secretary of state, and consul-general under seven presidents, has not wavered in his defence of Anwar Ibrahim and we read his letters and columns with grateful admiration that a true friend never deserts another in hard times.
We who preach justice must promote it
Injustice done is injustice seen and we who preach justice must be seen to promote justice and be prepared to pay the price, even for another.
Actions speak louder than words and many Malaysians can only hope that President Obama will change his plans and abide by the higher protocol of seeking justice for the oppressed and unjustly treated, that he will re-write the rules of a democratic protocol for Malaysia, where the role of the opposition leader is to be respected, not denied.
Obama should meet Anwar because it is the right thing to do. It is what the world and Malaysians expect from the orator of freedom and change.
President Obama should also meet the late Karpal Singh's widow and sons and learn more about the country's greatest patriot and citizen who passed away recently and who had the audacity to fight injustice and became a legendary martyr, whose heroes were Mahatma Gandhi and President John F Kennedy.
Yes, men of stature in the mould of American patriotic heroes, perhaps even larger because they have been jailed and beaten unfairly, for their political activities, like Anwar Ibrahim, can be found in Malaysia.
Though the greatest of them, Karpal Singh, is dead, there are others still alive and they long not to dine with world leaders in self-indulgence but for fellowship with those leaders who are true believers in democracy, in kindred spirit, and make plans for a better, more just and democratic world.
President Obama can't ignore Malaysia's true democrats.
Then Malaysians might begin to take his flowery speeches more seriously and restore their confidence in the world's greatest president who means what he says and backs his words with right and irrefutable conduct.
Otherwise, they will think the contemporary practice of American democracy is foreign diplomacy without conscience, with the visiting president being living proof.
And that American leaders are nothing more than self-interested globetrotting business people who have forgotten what America stands for and will expediently forsake their friends in their time of need.
We have not forgotten “America the Free” and our commitment to a “Free Asia” and we must have the audacity to remind President Obama in his imminent trip to the region.
We still believe in democracy.
STEVE OH is the author of the novel Tiger King of the Golden Jungle and composer of the musical of the same title. He believes in good governance and morally upright leadership.
But for the leader of the world's most influential democracy to give our country's opposition leader the official snub is regrettable and an affront to the country's democrats.
America is the proven remover of despots and dictators. It is a country that sacrificed countless young American lives in the defence of a 'free world' in many places.
It fought a civil war at home to free slaves and end racial discrimination. And if not largely for the Americans, we in Asia would still be part of the Japanese Imperial Empire.
So the presidential snub of Anwar Ibrahim seems out of sync with established American democratic ideals, its innate national sense of justice and its history of promoting democracy abroad.President Obama himself will appear to have lost his credentials as a promoter of democracy, protector of truth and defender of justice and this is not the sort of change he should be remembered for in the final years of his leadership.
It is not often American presidents come to this region, so they should make it count for democracy.
Obama gave the world the audacity to hope. He is a man of humble beginnings and a champion of radical political reform, who made great speeches on freedom and swung the political bat for the underdog.
He was the foremost apologist for change, and made American history by his election to his country's highest public office. He is admired for his oratory.
But, has the Obama bubble burst?
Has his inability in real life to influence repressive regimes to be more democratic and consistent with his country's democratic ideals caught up with his oratory and exposed its hollowness?
Talk that’s only meant to inspire?
Are the ideals of freedom and justice President Obama often conveys so eloquently in his impeccable oratory only meant to inspire, like some great work of literature and performing art?
But not for him to act out and bring to life, to be practised as he preached, and to achieve the reality for those living under the political jackboots of democratic misfits in 'misguided' democracies?
Is he afraid to offend certain foreign leaders when it counts?
Is he more interested in doing deals with the “devil we know” than upholding the democratic principles and traditions for which his country is renowned?
And is he only prepared to trade democratic ideals, truth and justice, the foundational pillars of his country that repressed countries badly need, in exchange for short-term American trade advantage in the region and elsewhere?
These are hard questions because America is where we look for hope, justice and democracy, and for the defence of a free world. The world looks to America. We are thus obliged to hold America accountable for its commitment to democracy, not only at home but abroad.
It is an expectation American leaders have groomed the world to believe in for a long time. America is the beacon of justice and democracy.
But is that about to change?
As for integrity, how truthful was it when his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a fleeting visit to Malaysia some years ago and extolled its democracy in abject disregard of the country's abysmal human rights record and persecution of dissidents and political opponents?
Obama must know proper protocol
Surely someone as erudite as President Obama must know that it is proper protocol to meet with the leader of the opposition, the alternative country leader, when you visit a democratic country.
It is the proper protocol for those visiting countries with a Westminster style of government, such as Malaysia's. You see it in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. You also see it in European democracies.
So, why the exception in Malaysia?
Are Asian opposition leaders any less important to democracy and to visiting heads of government? Why prop up the undemocratic policies or false protocol of anti-democracy leaders and play into their undemocratic ways?
It would be wrong to think American leaders can be cowed. They are not cowards and we have Vice-President Joe Biden (on the left) to prove it when he made his recent trip to Ukraine to stand alongside their besieged political leaders.How can any leader be a coward with the world's strongest military arsenal at his disposal?
But a leader can be a letdown. A leader can lose the moral authority. A leader can be despised for being a strawman and a false hope. A leader can fall from the moral high ground.
We marvelled at American political rhetoric. President Obama's oratory, such as, "We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honour those ideals by upholding them now, when it's easy and when it is hard." (Nobel Lecture, Dec 10, 2009)
But the reality?
How hard is it for the world's greatest democrat, the most powerful person on this planet, the one that few country leaders would dare to oppose, to meet with Malaysia's most unjustly persecuted and prosecuted citizen who also happens to be the country's opposition leader?
It will not be hard if you put principles in politics and justice in diplomacy and pursue truth and believe you cannot trade away the principles your country is admired for and not think only of self-interests and cloak them in sugary words like national interest.
Yes, We Can! This was Obama’s campaign slogan in 2008.
Americans pride themselves in upholding open political and ideological dissent as the hallmark of democracy and in defending democrats, everywhere, against acts of injustice.
It is not the time for America to backslide and be accused of being a democratic apostate. The world needs direction, not desertion.
Democracy is still in the minority
Democracy is still in the minority in the world and America's shyness in flexing its democratic muscles in Asia will further erode its moral authority and cause it to lose real friends.
Sadly, however, President Obama will let down the majority of Malaysians unless he does the right thing, instead of hiding behind a spurious protocol.
It may yet prove a rueful and costly inconsistency when moral courage gives way to selective engagement.
Some day, God willing, victimised Anwar Ibrahim may stand before the nation and echo the words of President Obama, in a speech Obama made on Jan 8, 2008:
"I will never forget that the only resaon I'm standing here today is because somebody somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they managed to change the world."Inspiring words, indeed. But when will he stand up for justice, for Anwar Ibrahim like former vice-president Al Gore and former American ambassador to Malaysia John Malott did?
John Malott, who has served his country for 30 years as an ambassador, deputy assistant secretary of state, and consul-general under seven presidents, has not wavered in his defence of Anwar Ibrahim and we read his letters and columns with grateful admiration that a true friend never deserts another in hard times.
We who preach justice must promote it
Injustice done is injustice seen and we who preach justice must be seen to promote justice and be prepared to pay the price, even for another.
Actions speak louder than words and many Malaysians can only hope that President Obama will change his plans and abide by the higher protocol of seeking justice for the oppressed and unjustly treated, that he will re-write the rules of a democratic protocol for Malaysia, where the role of the opposition leader is to be respected, not denied.
Obama should meet Anwar because it is the right thing to do. It is what the world and Malaysians expect from the orator of freedom and change.
President Obama should also meet the late Karpal Singh's widow and sons and learn more about the country's greatest patriot and citizen who passed away recently and who had the audacity to fight injustice and became a legendary martyr, whose heroes were Mahatma Gandhi and President John F Kennedy.
Yes, men of stature in the mould of American patriotic heroes, perhaps even larger because they have been jailed and beaten unfairly, for their political activities, like Anwar Ibrahim, can be found in Malaysia.
Though the greatest of them, Karpal Singh, is dead, there are others still alive and they long not to dine with world leaders in self-indulgence but for fellowship with those leaders who are true believers in democracy, in kindred spirit, and make plans for a better, more just and democratic world. President Obama can't ignore Malaysia's true democrats.
Then Malaysians might begin to take his flowery speeches more seriously and restore their confidence in the world's greatest president who means what he says and backs his words with right and irrefutable conduct.
Otherwise, they will think the contemporary practice of American democracy is foreign diplomacy without conscience, with the visiting president being living proof.
And that American leaders are nothing more than self-interested globetrotting business people who have forgotten what America stands for and will expediently forsake their friends in their time of need.
We have not forgotten “America the Free” and our commitment to a “Free Asia” and we must have the audacity to remind President Obama in his imminent trip to the region.
We still believe in democracy.
STEVE OH is the author of the novel Tiger King of the Golden Jungle and composer of the musical of the same title. He believes in good governance and morally upright leadership.
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