(Ipoh, Sunday): One of the charges laid against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim after he was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister as well as UMNO member almost three years ago was that he was an CIA agent.
The charge was first made in the book entitled "50 Reasons why Anwar cannot become Prime Minister" in June 1998, which made a whole host of defamatory allegations against the then Deputy Prime Minister including that Anwar was a CIA agent and a traitor to the nation.
This was implied in the police affidavits which were produced in court in connection with the continued detention of Datuk S. Nallakaruppan on 3rd September 1998 which made wild and lurid allegations against Anwar when the former Deputy Prime Minister decided to fight his sackings - including the allegation that Anwar received RM60 million from Nallakaruppan and which had never been heard of since.
The allegation that Anwar was a CIA agent seemed to take concrete form at the end of October last year when just before Parliament was dissolved for the tenth national general elections, former Bank Negara assistant governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid made and publicised a statutory declaration accusing Anwar of having amassed a fortune of RM3 billion while in government through over 20 "Master Accounts".
Murad said that he was involved in the pay-out of RM38 million (USD 10 million) between 1992 and 1997 to the American-based organisation called Asia Pacific Policy Centre (APPC) headed by Douglas H. Paal, who was former Senior Director from Asian Affairs (1989 to 1993) of the National Security Council (NSC) of the United States.
On the basis of Murad’s statutory declaration, UMNO MPs exploited parliamentary immunity to openly accuse in Parliament that Anwar was a CIA agent on the basis that the APPC was a CIA outfit and Douglas Paal a CIA agent - although they seemed to miss the irony that they were in fact suggesting that the CIA was an agent of Anwar. This was because according to Murad, it was Anwar who was paying APPC and Douglas Paal when it should be the other way round if Anwar was a CIA agent.
Malaysians can remember their incredulity that although Murad had not produced a single shred of evidence to substantiate his very serious allegations, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) immediately announced a special investigation team and the ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Zaki Hussin said that almost every paragraph of Murad’s seven-page 20-paragraph statutory declaration contained some information on corruption or corruption practices, implying that Anwar could be preferred with scores or even hundreds of charges of corruption.
After the general election on Nov. 29 last year, the ACA’s special investigation team against Anwar based on Murad’s allegations and Zaki’s forecast that every paragraph of Murad’s statutory declaration contained some information on corruption disappeared, both in sight and sound.
Yesterday, former United States Ambassador to Malaysia manning the embassy during the height of the Anwar crisis, John R Malott in a write up in Malaysiakini entitled "Anwar was never an American spy", told his "first personal, ‘insider’ story":
John Mallot wrote:
"But let me tell this story - the first personal, ‘insider’ story I have ever told from 31 years in diplomatic service.
"Before Anwar was arrested, the rumours started to fly that he would be arrested under the ISA as a national security threat. We heard rumours that the police were trying to claim that a tennis partner of Anwar's was a CIA agent, which we knew was not true.
"At that point, I went to a very senior official in the Malaysian government and told him officially, on behalf of my government, that Anwar was not a CIA agent. And if the Malaysian government arrested Anwar and claimed that he was an American agent, we would immediately issue a denial of the strongest order and challenge the Malaysian government to offer any proof to the contrary.
"And I bluntly told that individual, who is still in a very high position in the Malaysian government today, that they would be embarrassed because they never would be able to offer any proof to the contrary - because it does not exist.
"I then continued. You might have your internal political differences with Anwar. But if you make a false claim against the US, namely, that we have interfered in your internal affairs, and say that someone in your government is an American agent, then you are involving the US, and we will expose it for the lie it is.
"He squirmed in his chair.
"And to this date, has anyone in Malaysia ever offered any proof to contradict what I said?
"No.
"And there's a very simple reason why. Because Anwar Ibrahim is not, and never has been, an American agent.
"And by telling this story, one will also understand why my final days in Malaysia were so difficult, and why I was the victim of so many sycophantic attacks, often coming from the same people who enjoyed spreading the false charge that Anwar was an American agent.
"Dr Goebbels said, tell a lie often enough, and people will start to believe it.
"But telling a lie 50 times does not make it a truth."
I also call on Mahathir to declare the outcome of three years of police and ACA investigations as to whether Anwar is a CIA agent. If after three years of intensive investigations, the authorities still come out with a blank, all those who had alleged in one form or another that Anwar was a CIA agent should have the humility and decency to publicly apologise for their calumny. The Barisan Nasional should not only clear Anwar’s name and publicly bury the allegation that Anwar was a CIA agent, Parliamentary records should also be corrected as Parliament had been used before dissolution by irresponsible UMNO MPs to accuse Anwar as a CIA agent.
In this connection, Mahathir should also state whether the United States is the country he meant in his Merdeka Day message as the country out to "recolonize" Malaysia.
In his 43rd Merdeka Day message on Wednesday, Mahathir accused "foreign powers" of the design of "divide and rule" in Malaysia and trying to "recolonise" the country.
DAP pledges full backing to Mahathir and the Barisan Nasional government if he can produce evidence to prove his accusation of "foreign powers" bent on "recolonising" Malaysia - and I believe I can also speak for Barisan Alternative and the people of Malaysia in this regard.
However, Malaysians must know who is the enemy and where is the enemy if the DAP, the Barisan Alternative as well as Malaysians are to rally behind Mahathir and the Barisan Nasional government to fight off the designs of the "foreign powers" out to subjugate and recolonise Malaysia.
Mahathir should name these "foreign powers" which are trying to enslave Malaysia. Is he referring to the United States of America, where he is now visiting?
If Mahathir is unable to name names, then it is time he drop all
talk about "foreign powers" out to enslave and recolonise Malaysia
as a ploy to distract attention from pressing national problems and issues
in the country, which are mostly of his own creation and which cry out
for urgent resolution.
(3/9/2000)