Dr Mahathir-Soros meet: Marina gives inside story
Malaysiakini.com
Dec 19, 2006

Marina Mahathir has provided a rare peep into the discussion at the first ever face-to-face meeting between two old foes - her ex-premier father, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and self-made billionaire George Soros.

According to Marina, who was present at last Friday’s encounter at the presidential suite of a Kuala Lumpur hotel, Soros arrived late for the meeting.

“Up in the suite, we waited..and waited. I started to get nervous. My dad does not like to be kept waiting,” she wrote in her blog, RantingsbyMM.

When Soros eventually turned up, he explained that he was held up because he couldn’t find his tie.

Soros, 76, wore a tieless shirt and a dark blue business suit at the meeting, while Mahathir, 81, was in his signature grey suit.

The two men kicked off their one-hour meeting with small talk and then moved to weightier global issues such as the war on terror and the struggle for statehood in Palestine.

“As they warmed up, it became more apparent that these two had very similar views of the world,” said Marina in her blog.

Soros, who met with a number of Malaysian non-governmental organisations the day before, had also asked Mahathir about local politics.

“Soros showed how well briefed he was. He asked about the recent Umno GA [general assembly] and what this meant for race relations in Malaysia, and about corruption, all very politely, not accusatory at all. He seemed inclined to find areas of common interest and genuinely interested to know how we deal with problems.

“TDM [Tun Dr Mahathir] of course is not one to get defensive about anything so he said he was not happy about the last GA, was worried about how young people are being brought up without much interaction between the races, and said that yes we do have corruption, though perhaps not as bad as some countries.”

Anti-Semitic remarks

Marina continued: “At this point, Soros brought out ‘one issue that stands between us - and that is your anti-Semitic remarks’. He explained that he is often in conflict with many others of the Jewish faith in the US, especially the neo-conservatives who are the architects of the current US foreign policy.

“So not all Jews in the US agree with one another and there is no such thing as a Jewish conspiracy. TDM explained that he has been labelled anti-Semitic by the Western media even though, as often as not, he complains about Muslim attitudes as well.

“Citing his speech at the OIC [Organisation of Islamic Conference] meeting in KL in 2003, he said that much of it was about how Muslims had to change attitudes and in fact emulate Jews, but the media only cited his remarks about Jews.”

Soros then said that he too was once misquoted on the matter.

“He [Soros] has had longstanding disagreements with a large segment of American Jews because they have been too supportive of Israel irrespective of what Israel does. He cited the excessive influence of the American Israel Political Action Committee (Aipac), which lobbies for Israel in Congress as a major problem.”

Marina added that Soros “has started, or is starting” a counter-Aipac with other prominent American Jews.

According to the former first daughter, the two men did not discuss the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis at the meeting.

Apparently, Soros has already explained his role in the financial crisis to Mahathir before the meeting. Soros had earlier told malaysiakini that he had been exchanging letters with the former prime minister. 

Mahathir had blamed Hungarian-born Soros for undermining Asian economies by speculating on their currencies. In the wake of the financial crisis, a bitter public dispute ensued which escalated to name-calling.

However, the two adversaries met and have mended their ties with Mahathir saying that he accepted Soros’ explanation that he was not involved in short-selling the ringgit just before the crisis.

Copyright © 1999-2006 Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd