At the height of the ‘reformasi’ movement in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, the writings on the wall were aplenty. From Tun Mahathir being called ‘Pharaoh’ to the police being called ‘brutal’ there was the famous one which said “Anwar Boneka Amerika’. This was one of the major elements that dominated the 10^th General Elections in Malaysia in 1999 with the Barisan National (BN) campaigning with the notion that Anwar Ibrahim would sell Malaysia to the US if he was to take power.

This time it is Malaysia’s Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar who charged that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is a ‘snitch’ of the US, which means an informer of the American administration.

If it was the visit by former US Vice President Al-Gore and his call for ‘reformasi’ while he was in Kuala Lumpur that sparked strong anti-US sentiments among the BN’s grassroots, this time it is the new sodomy charge against the charismatic leader Anwar that brought the wrath of the Abdullah Badawi government against Washington.

The case against Anwar spooked the US which commented that Malaysia should be careful in threading between politics and the application of local laws. Anwar was careful not to seek refuge at the US embassy during his short stint in safe grounds while he was holed up at the Turkish Embassy. Hiding at the US Embassy would have given more strength to the government in its accusations that Anwar is indeed an American stooge.

However the statement from the State Secretary’s office in Washington has started a new controversy with Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rais Yatim sending a protest letter to Condoleeza Rice on the matter.

"I think it is just an esoteric act on behalf of the US State Department by a junior officer. However, we hope that Anwar will cease to become an 'attractive bird' to the American side,” Rais said.

"The US has a habit of sticking its nose not only in our affairs but they do that almost as a matter of course in respect of other countries as well. But they have a special interest in Malaysia, somehow," he added.

On his part, the Home Affairs Minister elaborated that:

“The United States always tries to warn small states like us but we have never been threatened or feel threatened by it as there is a system of international law.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Rais Yatim the US State Department spokesman Tom Casey asking him to explain under what rudimentary law Washington wanted “to oppose any use of law enforcement or judicial procedures” in regard to the sodomy allegation against Anwar.

“The Government feels it is an outright infringement of the sovereignty of an independent country. Malaysia is a rule of law country within the international community concept,” he said while in Bangkok, Thailand.

Nevertheless, is Anwar Ibrahim really an American stooge or snitch? Is he the ‘boneka Amerika’, the idea that Tun Mahathir promoted so widely during the 1999 elections and which helped his coalition win a tight race?

With Anwar Ibrahim’s star inevitably rising in the Malaysian political landscape, the current government is again pushing the agenda of the American stooge, telling people Anwar Ibrahim will sell the country to the US if he becomes Prime Minister. This latest assault on the opposition leader’s political alignment is coming right from the heart of the United Malays National Organization (Umno) or rather from a group of former Umno stalwarts.

WorldFutures grabbed information from Independent.my (an upcoming local news portal) which said that insiders informed them that former top guns of the Malay party were meeting abroad to discuss on the issues pertaining to the party’s future, the Prime Minister and his deputy and surely about Anwar’s possible lock, stock barrel sale of Malaysia to the US. Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail strongly denied the assertions by Tun Mahathir that her husband was going to sell Malaysia to the US. That was during an interview to Islamonline.net in 2001.

The fate of the Umno put aside for the sake of this article, let’s ponder on what the former Umno leaders will probably divulge against Anwar. Though they do not have concrete proof of Anwar being a stooge, the spin doctors will polish the story about Anwar’s alignment towards Washington by focusing on his ‘democratic’ agenda. The idea of a total democratic opening under Anwar Ibrahim will take a bashing and this joined with the fate of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ or Malay political supremacy in Malaysia will become the horse battle of the Umno.

On Anwar’s democratic agenda, the Umno will have to work hard to make its supporters and Members of Parliament (MP) fear for the Malays. A silent campaign is on to entice the Malay population to believe that they will lose more with Anwar in power.

The Malaysian government has stalled the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with the US on the basis that it will hurt local industries; in particular, Malay owned businesses. Farmers and industrialists are being told they will not gain from the FTA by Malay campaigners and this has forced the government to rethink its support for the FTA. The silence of Anwar Ibrahim on such issues is seen as tacit support of the opposition leader for the pro-American FTA and this will be highlighted in any campaign on American interference in Malaysia.

All these will not be possible with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in power hence the Umno stalwarts – members of the ‘Mubarak’ group – will challenge the PM on the touchy issue of Anwar’s liberation from jail. The former MP’s and Ministers as well as Chief Ministers who mostly served under Tun Mahathir Mohamad are asking the Prime Minister why in the first place he released Anwar Ibrahim from jail, according to the Independent.my website, a new local political web portal.

The Malaysians are altogether weary of the fact that Indonesia, once the frontier against the American war on terror, has turned into a ‘small brother’ of the Americans with offers of a host of incentives.

In April this year, Robert Gates the American Defense Secretary visited Indonesia in pompous manner, giving goodies to the army, to Muslim organizations and to the Indonesian government. These included training for military personnel’s in the US, regular visits of US students and officials to the US for training purposes, visas to Indonesian students to study in the US and military equipment to the Indonesian army. The US also installed 5 radars that are capable to monitor a large section of South East Asia along the Riau provinces up the Islands of Bengkalis and Batam.

Washington has also offered the Indonesians assistance (military and otherwise) to control piracy in the Straits of Malacca which has so far not been agreed upon by Jakarta.

Putrajaya will probably embellish its anti-American stance by arguing that Anwar Ibrahim will surely cooperate fully with Washington on issues that the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government dealt with rejection or with strong caution.

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