Anwar's US allies now turned foes?

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim may have done well to counter domestic allegations of his "softened" posturing against an Israeli attack on the "Gaza aid flotilla" but he now risks triggering enmity from his powerful allies in the US.

The shift of US opinion against Anwar is reflected in an article published by The New Ledger yesterday entitled "Anwar Ibrahim in bad decline" where the opposition leader was scathingly criticised for what has been described as his "anti-Semitic" sentiment.

"Renowned Malaysian 'democrat' and perennial prime ministerial aspirant Anwar Ibrahim has been on a sort of Washington, DC, apology tour in the past week.

"He’s got a lot to apologise for: having been a longtime darling of American policymakers of both parties — all eager to identify a moderate Muslim with whom we can do business — he’s embarrassed those friends and mentors with his recent descent into crass anti-Semitism," read the article.

While likening his offensive on "Zionism" to anti-semitism, the article claimed Anwar is playing the double agent -- conjuring and linking Israeli-Jewish conspiracies to the Najib administration for his political survival only to apologise to his US-Jewish allies later on.

It further stated that this was an act of desperation from the former deputy prime minister, now slapped with a second sodomy charge in 10 years, a charge he openly claimed was masterminded by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

"The proximate cause of Anwar Ibrahim’s invocation of anti-Semitic tropes is his own flagging political fortune. For the past decade, he’s been the heir apparent to the Malaysian prime ministerial office as leader of the opposition — and for that same period of time, he’s fallen short.

"He turned his rhetorical guns on the US, too. When Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak met with President Barack Obama and agreed to US-Malaysian collaboration on Iran and Afghanistan, Anwar even took to the parliamentary floor to declare that this was evidence of Jewish influence on Malaysian policymaking," read the article.

Shun Anwar, let's make friends with Najib

The article in The New Ledger even went as far as calling US allies to shun Anwar and instead do business with his rival Najib whom the article contended is now more US-friendly than the former deputy premier.

"On a moral level, American policy doesn’t have to choose the lesser of two evils in Malaysia: our relations with that country, and its strategic role, are such that we are under no compulsion to affiliate ourselves with a known purveyor of anti-Semitism.

"On a pragmatic level, the fact is that the man whom Anwar seeks to replace, Prime Minister Najib Razak, is far more friendly to American policy goals than is Anwar himself."

“Now, the best argument for him is that he’s the least worst. He’s not even that, of course — but it’s still a remarkable fall. Anwar may wish to blame the Jews for it, but the sad truth is that he did it all to himself," concluded the article.

The article was published just a day after local Umno-owned Malay daily Utusan Malaysia quoted a Washington Post article on Anwar's supposed "apologetic" trip to Washington.

He was said to have apologised to various US-Jewish leaders, including House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman, that he regretted using the term "Zionist aggression" to describe the attack on the aid-carrying flotilla that left nine people killed and scores injured.

Umno leaders were quick to exploit the issue, calling Anwar a two-faced "chameleon extraordinaire" who is willing to sacrifice his principle for political support.

And while the opposition leader insisted that it was a mere case of misinterpretation on the term "Zionism" and denied pandering to US pressure, the wounds have been inflicted and his allies and the US media appear to be turning their backs on him.