WASHINGTN, May 14 — President Bush today continued the rehabilitation of
Asia's longest-serving leader, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia,
welcoming him to the Oval Office and calling him an ally in the war on terror.
At the same time, Mr. Bush toned down Washington's long-running complaints
about Dr. Mahathir's sometimes brutal suppression of dissent.
The meeting was particularly notable because Mr. Bush
used the moment to castigate Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, as a dictator who
"ought to have free elections," "ought to have a free
press" and "ought to free his prisoners." But he made no public
comments about Malaysia's record on the same issues.
It was a striking omission: Mr. Bush's State Department,
in its most recent human rights report, documented Malaysia's intimidation of
the press; its use of the police and courts for arbitrary arrests of Dr.
Mahathir's political opponents; and its manipulation of electoral procedures
devised to favor the governing coalition that has held power since 1957.
During a brief exchange with reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Bush was asked
whether the United States has changed its view that Dr. Mahathir's former
deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was jailed in 1998 because of a power
struggle with Dr. Mahathir. Mr. Anwar remains in jail, and the State
Department report refers to him as a political prisoner.
"Our position has not changed," Mr. Bush said quietly, as Dr.
Mahathir sat next to him.
Dr. Mahathir was given top-level attention at the meeting: Vice President Dick
Cheney sat in, along with Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, and
Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state.
Mr. Bush used the moment to praise the 76-year-old Dr. Mahathir, who has run
Malaysia for 21 years, for his efforts to track down Al Qaeda leaders in his
country.
American officials say they believe that Qaeda plotters used Malaysia as a
base to plan attacks — which were foiled — in Singapore, although in
January Dr. Mahathir told reporters that he saw no evidence of Al Qaeda in his
country.
Today he revised that view. "At that time we were not very certain,"
he said, "but we have discovered that some of these people who were
active, who planned to overthrow the government by force of bombs, had
activity in Pakistan and eventually to Afghanistan, where they did meet with
the Al Qaeda people."
Mr. Bush said he expected "continued cooperation" from Malaysia.
Asia experts inside and outside the government say Dr. Mahathir has skillfully
used the war on terrorism to win his way back into Washington's good graces.
He was shunned after the jailing of Mr. Anwar — a former finance minister
with many friends in Washington--and for his periodic outbursts about American
imperialism and the power of Jews in the United States.
But now Malaysia is often cited by administration
officials as an exemplary moderate Islam nation that cracks down on suspected
terrorists. Its military ties with the United States are growing closer. More
than 60 suspected Islamic militants have been arrested, many of them on
charges suggesting that they were plotting against the sitting government in
Kuala Lumpur.
In fact, Dr. Mahathir's warm reception here was reminiscent of how President
Clinton, eager to expand trade in Asia, welcomed President Suharto of
Indonesia to the White House and brought along much of his cabinet to greet
the authoritarian leader. Only a week before, the Secret Service had deftly
avoided an encounter with Mr. Castro when Mr. Clinton and Mr. Castro attended
a reception at the United Nations.
The outspoken Dr. Mahathir is now one of the leading critics of the United
States in Asia, and he did not depart from that line today.
"The West is very impatient," he said in a
luncheon speech. "You want overnight change." But he cautioned that
"sudden change, even if it's for the good, is disruptive," and
added, "Democracy for people who are not used to it can undermine
stability, resulting in war."