Business Week today calls Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad a 'surprising ally' in the (US) 'War against terror'. But to many in Malaysia, it's no surprise at all...

In an article titled Malaysia: A Surprising Ally in the War on Terror, Business Week comments on previous ideological conflicts between the US and Malaysia on how Malaysia runs its own affairs, notably the Anwar affair and Malaysia's response to the currency market assaults by foreigners (and their own).

"...Mahathir is playing a key role in the war on terrorism. Since September 11, Malaysian police have detained more than 60 alleged terrorists under the country's Internal Security Act, which allows suspects to be held without trial for two years. The latest round of 14 arrests came on Apr. 18...."

To Malaysia and Malaysians the 'War Against Terror' started many years ago, with evidence of fringe militant Muslim groups in Malaysia gearing up for assaults against establishment targets in Malaysia. Then it was a local issue. A battle for hearts and minds over the ideological basis of Malaysian government.

As Prime Minister for over 20 years Mahathir has led Malaysia to become a model modern prosperous Islamist state, through his government coalition, the largest member being UMNO, again which he leads, representing much of Malaysia's over 50% Malay population. All Malays in Malaysian are Moslem by definition. They are born Muslim and 'backsliding' results in serious social isolation. UMNO represents a moderate face of Islam, and as the leading political organization in government has merged Islam with development - a rare accomplishment in contemporary Islam states.

As part of UMNO's modernization, the more traditional Malays broke off to join PAS, a political party based on Islam fundamentalist, whose key policy is ruling Malaysia as an Islam state. PAS's view of UMNO and the Malaysian government's moderate Islam approach is that they are 'heathens'.

PAS has traditionally be seen as an extreme political group, especially among city residents. However their support increased subsequent to the treatment of ex DPM Anwar Ibrahim by the Malaysian political establishment. They now rule 2 Northern Malaysian States (out of 8 or so in Malaysia as a whole). Those states often hit the headlines of international and Malaysian press over issues such as banning bikinis at beaches, gender-segregated queues at shopping centres, banning alcohol and discos, and meting our Islamic punishment to adulterers and the like.

Mahathir's and the government's response has been to pour scorn on PAS leaders through their givernment dominated media, highlighting the poverty in PAS governed states, their focus on the 'afterlife' rather than the present, and to admonish Malaysa generally for "not being grateful" to the government for their own increasing wealth.

Another strategy was to arrest certain PAS leaders, and link PAS to more extreme violence-based sects, and militant groups. Whether these charges are correct or not, is difficult for the normal Malaysian to ascertain, as the government used the 'Internal Security Act' (ISA), a left over remnant of UK colonization instituted to fight the communist menace. A form of ISA also exists in Singapore, and the political establishment in both countries has not hesitated on many occassions to use it's powers of detention without trial or evidence to remove anti-government activitists from participation in the public arena.

A convenient justification for the Malaysian government is that detainees are suspected of being involved in militant groups. That explanation may well be true, but detainees are by no means treated as innocent before trial.

Come the 11th of September 2001, and the War against Terrorism suddenly moved from a local issue to an international issue. Mahathir is now riding the crest of a credibility wave, and any substantial political opposition, which by government-spun reputation is associated with extremists, is decimated.

Suddenly the US War Against Terrorism aligned prefectly with the Malaysian strategy. Opposing the killing of civilians is like motherhood. Who, apart from a tiny minority, could agree to this? However both the US government and the Malaysian government took the opoortunity to further their own polical agendas at the same time. In the US, laws similar to Singapore and Malaysia's ISA were reinstituted to detain suspected hi-jackers, and those who expressed a different opinion in the media were throttled. Furthermore, the US establishment took the war further to announce a "evil triad of nations".

Globally, US ally Israel used the "War against Terror" to justify invading Palestinean targets. The world as a whole is tilting again to the Right, in places so diverse as Australia, Singapore, France and soon Britain, as selfish right wing causes such as anti-immigration and intolerance to dissendent opinion again become popular issues.

Mahathir has for years taken great pride in Malaysia's success as a modern Islam state, so much so that he takes it on himself to tour the world and the Arab Islam states proclaiming Malaysia as a model for development within an Islam context. Last month he hosted a meeting of Arab and Islam states in Kuala Lumpur to both reinforce this while also aiming to gain some agreement between Islam leaders on an Islamic definition of terrorism.

Mahathir is right in almost all factors. Malaysia IS a successful model of a modern Islamist state. In most of Malaysia tolerance of different religions is high, business teams comprising of 4 religions work harmoniously together. You can get a beer easily. You can get to a mosque or a church easily. In KL, symbols of wealth, achievement and modernity predominate. The worlds tallest building, the world's tallest flagpole, a modern cyber city resembling the most modern and cleanest of university campuses.

The conference failed in its objectives as Israel continued their invasion of Palestine. Minds were elsewhere. Yet Mahathir did send a strong unspoken message to the US that Malaysia was their friend. And his warm reception in Washington on May 14th will be only part of the reward.

Mahathir has already said he likes Bush. His first reaction to the election of Bush to the world's most powerful position was "..At least it's not Gore.." Mahathir feels much more at home around right wingers rather than the namby pamby, pot smoking, baby booming, politically-correct world of Clinton and the Democrats.

After all Mahathir rules Malaysia like a paternal school master. The use of the royal "we" punctuates his statements to the press. He admonishes opponents in the language of a father disappointed in a wayward son, and congratulates his partners as is they were his most favoured son.

"Surpising" is not the word we would use to describe Mahathir's alliance with the US. Mahathir is well known for his pragmatic use of the polemic to acheive his polictical aims. His "Buy British Last" campaign was one example. His genuflection to the Japanese while criticising them for "acting like blondes" due to their embracing of Western values is another. About the only country Mahathir hates ALL the time is Australia.

This, at last, is Malaysia's major chance to play his cards - a strong hand of a successful Islamic country, fairly close to the action, and willing to work with the old USA when it matters. To George Bush it might be worthwhile if a stronger, bigger, and more influential Islam country does not agree to break ranks and side clearly with the US at this time.

In the first time the Malaysian and US agendas coincide. Sort of like the age of Aquarius. But one needs to ask [b]what agendas?[/b].

Is it more than just a mutual agreement that deliberately killing citizens for political causes is wrong, or is there a second agenda? If we go beyond a simple analysis of the broad rather than most obvious basis of the "War against Terror", the US-Mahathir alliance is hardly surprising at all...