A Prophetic Anwar : LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
International Herald Tribune
November 10, 1998

In 1987, when Anwar Ibrahim was education minister of Malaysia, he came to speak to my colleagues and me at an extension campus of an American university near Kuala Lumpur.

"We've been having some complaints from students," he said, "but we didn't want to make a big deal about them. We prefer to expose them to different viewpoints, to open their minds."

Then he became very serious and pointed, and his manner was clearly protective. He spoke slowly, gesturing with his index finger to drive the point home: "But be very careful."

I felt as if he were talking directly to me, because in my English debate classes I had been openly critical of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad and had encouraged my students — who were all Malays — to analyze his policies and statements from multiple perspectives, and not to believe everything the local, state-controlled media disseminated.

My initial 15-month contract with the university was not renewed, although I am not sure it was because of my outspoken debate classes. But I am sure of one thing: Mr. Anwar's warning was both prophetic and, in hindsight, ironic.

SCOTT SOUTH.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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