A secret pact

Today I read Anwar Ibrahim’s statement from the docket.

Anwar said that it all is a political conspiracy against him.

And I agree.

After all, I was the American Ambassador to Malaysia when all of these things happened the first time around.

As people know, the American Embassy has many sources of information.

Just ask Wikileaks.

Malaysians love to talk….

As so many of my friends in Malaysia know, I have been very outspoken in support of Anwar’s freedom for over one decade. And that is because I know the truth. I was there when it happened the first time.

In 1998 – the first time around for Anwar – my Embassy heard and reported lots of things. We knew the truth. Because Malaysians – at the highest levels -- told us.

When I was in KL, Najib’s personal think tank was called the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, or MSRC. MSRC basically was two people, Rohanna Mahmood and Razak Baginda.

Neither Rohanna nor Razak are government officials, so I am not violating any US laws by revealing what they told me and my Embassy in those days.

A secret pact

In 1998 Rohanna joined me for a private one-on-one luncheon at the Ambassador ‘s residence. It was during the time when Anwar was starting to challenge Mahathir, subtly but still obviously.

Rohanna told me that Najib and Anwar had reached a secret agreement. When Mahathir was gone, Anwar would be PM and Najib would be Deputy PM. That was the deal.

That never happened, of course. When the going got tough, Najib stood by, and let Anwar go to jail.

What about Razak Baginda?

He told a senior Embassy officer, “The decision has been made. They are going to “nuke” Anwar politically for all time to come. “Until he can never stand up again politically.”

100 years

Meaning, it was all a political decision – to destroy Anwar.

That is what Razak – now in self-imposed exile in London -- said.

After that, a senior officer in the Special Branch told an Embassy officer, “We are going to keep filing charge after charge after Anwar so he will be in jail for the next hundred years.”

Can there be any doubt about what was going on then – and what is going on now?

- Malaysia Chronicle

- John Malott was the US ambassador to Malaysia from 1995 to 1998 and is now the president of the Japan-America Society of Washington DC