FAC News - Sunday, February 17, 2002 1:26 AM

Another failed attempt to run Anwar down

The American Muslim community is still waiting -- three years later -- for Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, the Chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, to explain the remarks he made at the US State Department in January 1999 accusing them all of being extremists.

On Wednesday, 13 February 2002, Kabbani appeared before TV3, the UMNO-owned television station, and told the nation that a certain ex-Malaysian Minister had funded US extremist Islamic groups. He never, however, identified the Minister or the US Islamic groups in his allegation.

On Friday, John Malott, the previous US Ambassador to Malaysia, wrote to Kabbani asking for clarification on what he (Kabbani) had said, pointing out that Kabbani was being dragged into Malaysia’s local politics. (Full text can be read here).

That same day, Kabbani retracted his statement though millions of Malaysians can bear witness to what he said – and it was clear he said what he said.

This is yet one more desperate and pathetic attempt by the Mahathir Government to smear Anwar, and like all their previous efforts, this one also will end in embarrassment because there is not a shred of truth to it. The Mahathir propaganda machine is like "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" - they can't do anything right.

One day they say Anwar is an American lackey and a CIA agent, and the next day they say he is a financial supporter of terrorism. All of this should be something to laugh at -- except that Mahathir continues to keep Anwar and his associates locked up in jail because Mahathir is afraid of him.

And something else is very clear. The US Government has declared "war on terrorism," and Ambassador Malott is the former Ambassador of that Government. Shaykh Kabbani appears to be an outcast amongst his own Islamic community in America. We assume the former American Ambassador knows a lot more about the "Malaysian connection" to terrorism than Kabbani does.

Maybe the next time Pak Lah wants to quote an authoritative source, he should cite Ambassador Malott and not an unknown cleric from Michigan. If millions of Muslims in America and even President Bush doesn't believe what Kabbani says, then why should we?