Rejecting Warning, Albright Sees Anwar's Wife 
International Herald Tribune
November 16, 1998
Thomas Fuller

Avoiding official talks with the Malaysian government, the U.S. secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, met Sunday with the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, the country's ousted deputy prime minister. The meeting was apparently a protest against the treatment of Mr. Anwar, who is in jail.

Ignoring warnings that such a meeting would amount to interference in Malaysia's internal affairs, Mrs. Albright met for half an hour with Mr. Anwar's wife, Azizah Ismail, amid a weekend of anti-government protests in Kuala Lumpur that were broken up by the police.

An American official who briefed reporters after the meeting said Miss Azizah told Mrs. Albright that "her husband wants to be assured that this case remains before the court of world opinion."

Mr. Anwar, who held the No. 2 job in the government until his dismissal in September, is on trial on charges of sodomy and corruption.

The meeting between the two women followed a unusually sharply worded exchange between Mrs. Albright and a Malaysian government official at a joint news conference.

"The U.S. has made clear a number of times that Anwar Ibrahim is a highly respected leader," Mrs. Albright said. "He is entitled to due process and a fair trial."

Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz shot back: "The U.S. doesn't need to worry. Maybe when I go to the U.S., I will meet Kenneth Starr."

"He is not in prison," Mrs. Albright replied.

Mrs. Rafidah, before concluding the news conference, said, "I would like to assure Secretary Albright, so that she can sleep tight tonight" that Mr. Anwar will get a fair trial.

The State Department spokesman, James Rubin, called the comparison with Mr. Starr, the independent counsel who is investigating President Bill Clinton, "pathetic," adding that it "says more about them than anything I've heard."

When asked why Mrs. Albright had chosen to meet with Miss Azizah instead of the government, Mr. Rubin said, "I think the Malaysian government will understand the significance of her choosing that meeting."

Mrs. Albright, who had originally planned to stay in Malaysia until Tuesday, cut short her visit Sunday and rushed back to Washington to deal with the standoff with Iraq.

Mr. Clinton announced over the weekend that he was canceling his trip to Malaysia for the same reason. In his place, Vice President Al Gore will represent the United States at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum here this week.

Anti-government demonstrators held at least three protests in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, the largest of which took place Saturday night at a busy intersection not far from Mrs. Albright's hotel.

Thousands of demonstrators held up posters of Mr. Anwar as well as signs urging Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad to step down. Three plainclothes police officers present at the demonstration were attacked by protesters, leading one officer to fire several shots from his pistol into the air.

Protesters also burned a police motorcycle before police reinforcements were called in to break up the demonstration.

Several protesters seemed to be looking to the United States for support. One woman held a sign saying: "Clinton: Arrest Mahathir."

When asked how that would be possible, she said: "He arrested Noriega, didn't he?"

On Sunday, two small gatherings outside the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest buildings, were broken up by the police, who used water cannon to spray yellow dye into the crowd and then chased protesters into a busy shopping center, using the dye to identify them.

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