In Malaysia, Question of Day: Why Did Mahathir Skip Davos? 
International Herald Tribune
January 28, 2000
Thomas Fuller

Why did Malaysia's prime minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad, cancel his trip to Davos?

And did he really fall off his horse while vacationing in Argentina?

The two questions that have swirled around this rumor-prone capital during the past week, jolting the stock market on several occasions, were put to rest Thursday when Mr. Mahathir arrived in London, smiled for television cameras and showed that two weeks of vacation did nothing to dull his acid tongue.

Did he cancel his trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland because George Soros — the financier he once blamed for bringing on Asia's economic crisis two years ago — was attending?

"Actually Soros is finished," Mr. Mahathir told the Bernama news agency after arriving in London. Mr. Soros is a "discredited player in the currency market," he added, and "a nonentity whom no one listens to anymore."

Mr. Soros in the past has responded to Mr. Mahathir's frequent attacks by calling the prime minister "a menace to his own country."

The agenda at Davos — globalization — seems almost tailor-made for Mr. Mahathir, a frequent critic of the West, who shut off his country from global capital flows 18 months ago, saying that people should rethink the free-market system.

But Mr. Mahathir said Thursday he had decided not to attend the forum because he wanted to go home early, according to Bernama.

A spokesman for the World Economic Forum at Davos said the prime minister had cited "problems at home."

Earlier this month, the government arrested four opposition figures and a printer of an opposition newspaper in what has been described as a crackdown in dissent.

An aide to another top Malaysian politician speculated that Mr. Mahathir might have faced tough questions about this in Davos.

The last time Mr. Mahathir skipped a key international meeting, a summit meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in New Zealand, elections were pending at home.

As for the horse, Mr. Mahathir, who is an avid rider, said that someone in his entourage had indeed fallen off a horse, but was not injured.

The aide to the other Malaysian politician was not convinced. "Are there photos?" he asked.

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