SYDNEY MORNING HERALD’S REPORT ON LEAKED DIPLOMATIC CABLES:
KEADILAN WOULD HAVE WELCOMED NEW FACTS, NOT SENSATIONALISED PERSONAL OPINIONS
KEADILAN views seriously any attempt by any parties to make political capital out of the leaked US State Department cable published by WikiLeaks on Singaporean intelligence officials’ views on sodomy allegation levelled at Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Most importantly, one has to understand the nature of operation of WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks provides an avenue for whistle-blowers to share classified information with the public. The nature of the information or documents shared with the public varies from case to case.
The articles published by The Sydney Morning Herald revolve around a set of US State Department cables on opinions made by Singaporean Foreign Ministry officials on the neighbouring countries in ASEAN, Japan, China and India. These are their opinions and were reported as such by the US State Department officials in the cables.
To illustrate the sensationalism and a high degree of personal opinions that was involved, KEADILAN would like to draw the public’s attention to the other comments made by three of Singaporean Foreign Ministry officials that also form part of the leaked cables:
Mr Bilahari Kausikan
According to one cable detailing a meeting in September 2008, Mr Kausikan told US Deputy Secretary of Defence for East Asia David Sedney there was a “distinct possibility of racial conflict” which could see ethnic Chinese “flee” Malaysia and “overwhelm” Singapore.
On Barisan Nasional’s leadership, he said “a lack of competent leadership is a real problem for Malaysia. Najib Razak needs to prevail politically in order to avoid prosecution”, linking the Prime Minister to an alleged involvement in the murder of a Mongolian woman Altantuya Sharibu. “Najib Razak has his neck on the line in connection with a high-profile murder case”, he said further.
On Thailand’s political elite, he labelled Thaksin Shinawatra as “corrupt” along with “everyone else, including the opposition”. He opined that Thaksin “made a mistake pursuing a relationship with the Thai crown prince by paying off the crown prince’s gambling debts”. He felt the crown prince was “very erratic and easily subject to influence”.
His other notable comments include his opinion that he would be “more comfortable with a nuclear-capable North Korea than a nuclear-capable Iran”. He didn’t mince his words on Russia either, criticising Russia’s economy as “third world and its health system a shamble”.
Mr Peter Ho
In March 2008, Mr Ho condemned the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad for “throwing stones” at his replacement, Tun Abdullah Badawi. He was even less flattering on YB Khairy Jamaludin, Umno’s Youth Head when he predicted the latter’s political demise.
“The political knives will be out for Abdullah’s son-in-law, Umno politician Khairy Jamaluddin, whom nobody likes because he got where he is through family ties,” recorded the cable on Mr Ho’s opinion.
Similar to his colleague, he echoed the allegation linking Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak with the 2006 murder of Altantuya Sharibu: “As for Najib Razak, he is an opportunist. Although he has not been critical of Singapore, he will not hesitate to go in that direction if it is expedient for him to do so. Najib’s political fortunes continue to be haunted by the … murder scandal”.
Mr Tommy Koh
Another senior official, Mr Tommy Koh trained his scoff at other influential powers in the region. A leaked cable recorded his opinions communicated to US officials in a meeting in September 2009.
He described Japan as “the big fat loser” in the context of improving ties between China and ASEAN. He attributed his perceived Japan’s reducing influence in the region to Japan’s “stupidity, bad leadership and lack of vision”.
Mr Koh also spared no bad words for India, describing his “stupid Indian friends” as “half in, half out of ASEAN”.
Therefore, the leaked cable of Lee Kuan Yew’s and Singapore intelligence’s opinion on Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim should be viewed in the context of the broad criticism of its foreign officials against Malaysia, with nobody being spared.
KEADILAN maintains that those views and assessments are their own personal views that do not contain any facts – otherwise Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak will have a tough time explaining similarly damaging allegations against him made by the same Singaporean officials and leaked by the same set of cables.
At the heart of it, we must allow the natural course of justice to take place. This means a fair and just trial accorded to YB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim to settle the case once and for all. Malaysians have been dragged into this mud-slinging for a generation and are very keen to move on. The bigger struggle in this nation is to restore confidence and order in the judiciary system that has been crippled by continuous emasculation by the ruling government.
As such, we would have welcomed the leaked cable if it in anyway provides new evidence or factual insights that can guarantee justice will be preserved in a fair and just trial. Unfortunately, it is nothing but a series of tirades against anyone or anything that is not Singapore that continues a long history of vituperation against Malaysia coming from the Singaporean establishment.
YB SAIFUDDIN NASUTION ISMAIL
SECRETARY GENERAL OF KEADILAN
