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Thursday, 25-Dec-2003 9:27 AM ANWAR, MAHATHIR & THE IMF Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad tried very hard to paint Anwar as a traitor, CIA agent, US stooge, and someone who was prepared to sell his country down the drain in cahoots with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Was Anwar an IMF stooge? It is not true that Anwar tried to squeeze businesses and banks and was prepared to allow them to flounder. After five months of deterioration under Dr Mahathir from July 1997, Anwar took the advice of Bank Negara, which was, in all likelihood, strongly influenced by the IMF. Actually, it was the Government Economic Adviser, Daim Zainuddin, rather than Anwar, who wanted to tighten macroeconomic policy in December 1997. In fact, Anwar was moving the opposite direction by trying to re-inflate the economy and to restore bank liquidity from as early as May 1998, well before the September 1998 measures. As a member of the NEAC, Anwar, naturally, did not oppose the measures of September 1998, which Mahathir admitted as much. However, later, for reasons best known to him, Mahathir decided to smear Anwar as an IMF stooge who had ‘sold out’ the nation and was allegedly leading the country to ruin. In a closed-door meeting with economists and others on 9 May 1998, Anwar, in fact, defended Dr Mahathir and emphasised that the offshore Ringgit market in Singapore was what was causing the economic havoc. However, two weeks later, when Suharto quit as president of Indonesia after 32 years in power, Dr Mahathir suddenly became very paranoid. It is well known he was having sleepless nights and was obsessed about the fate of ex-leaders such as the former Korean presidents who were brought before the courts in handcuffs and prison clothes and later sentenced to death for their indiscretions and abuses. Anwar was not plotting against Dr Mahathir. This Daim himself publicly acknowledged at the UMNO general assembly that same year when he revealed that Anwar had asked Dr Mahathir to stay on when the PM expressed his desire to retire in 1995 and 1997. Unfortunately for Anwar, he had many enemies in high places -- due to his campaigns against corruption (e.g. strengthening the ACA) and abuses (e.g. Perwaja) -- who successfully conspired to get Dr Mahathir to eliminate him. It is also interesting to note that many of the government’s policies implemented since Anwar was sacked on 2 September 1998 include measures initiated by Anwar in mid-1998 -- e.g. for agriculture, small businesses, micro-credit -- instead of the earlier Dr Mahathir emphasis on public works construction jobs for the boys. While publicly denouncing Anwar, Dr Mahathir has been implementing much of what Anwar wanted to do without any acknowledgement or credit to Anwar. This was what Dr Mahathir said in his live interview with CNN's Lorraine Hahn on their Biz Asia programme of 10 November 1998. Q: Do you think that Anwar at least deserves some credit for Malaysia's past successes? A: Of course, he was in the Government. He did some good work. There were times, I didn't agree with him. There were times I didn't agree with his views, for example, he wanted to apply IMF-strategies for Malaysia which were allowed until it showed that it was going to damage Malaysia's economy. He then accepted that we should get away from the IMF. FURTHER READING: 2. Mahathir’s ringgit peg dilemma 4. Dr M’s tolerance of abuses costs the country: Prof K. S. Jomo 5. Q&A: Jomo on Mahathir, Anwar and the IMF 6. Jomo on Stiglitz, Mahathir and Anwar Check
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