President Bush Praises Pak Lah, Says PM's Leadership "Very Constructive Force For Region"
President George W. Bush has described Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's leadership as a very constructive force for Southeast Asia.He said Malaysia was an interesting example of how a free society could deal with movements that could conceivably change and alter the nature of the free society.
"I respect the way the prime minister has used freedom and the openness of society to deal with frustration. I mean, all societies have frustrated people. The question is will the outlet of that frustration lead to violence or peace," Bush said in a rare roundtable Thursday with five journalists from Asia Pacific, including Bernama.
"Malaysia is an example of a country where frustrations have been channelled in a positive way.
"I respect Prime Minister Badawi, admire his leadership," Bush, who met Abdullah at the White House in 2004, said when commenting on Abdullah's leadership in handling extremism and terrorism in the country.
Abdullah is a proponent for moderation, advocating Islam Hadhari (Civilisational Islam) in Malaysia and everywhere he goes.
The camaraderie between the two leaders could be seen when the president said: "When his wife (the late Datin Seri Endon Mahmood) died, I tried to call him early just to let him know I cared about him."
When told that Abdullah had remarried, Bush appeared surprised and said: "Has he? Good. I'll congratulate him. Thanks for giving me that heads-up. I'm going to congratulate him. That's neat.
When told by his aide that he did congratulate the prime minister, Bush laughed at his memory lapse and said: "Exactly. I'm going to congratulate him again. I'll double the congratulations."
He later admitted that he forgot and asked his aide whether he had called or written a note to the prime minister. He was told that he had written a note. "That's right, yes. (I also) sent him a couple of flowers," Bush said.
The president congratulated Malaysia on its 50th Independence Day Friday, and said he looked forward to continuing meaningful discussions on the bilateral free trade agreement with the United States' 10th largest trading partner.
The two countries are currently negotiating a free trade agreement. Talks have hit a snag over financial services, intellectual property, competition policies, government procurement and labour.
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Labels: Malaysia - General, Pak Lah
posted by The Malaysian. at 8/31/2007 01:11:00 PM
3 Comments:
Bush knew nothing about the SIL burning the US flag to show off to Condy Rice? Or just waiting for the chance to hang him as he did with poor old saddam?
I am most disappointed with CNN headline "Malaysia turns 50 amidst tension". While there are people unhappy about afirmative action, imagine what would happen if the majority remain poor after 50 yoears of independent.
Folks, don't keep on harping on racial tension as if this is very exciting to talk about. In a country of multi-culture and multi-racial like ours, controversies among races are bound to occur from time to time. As long as there is dialogue and spirit of give and take prevails our country will remain peaceful and prosperous. Bear in mind, no single rakyat in the street will gain if unscrupulous and irresponsible act sparks off a racial strife. May 13 incident should have taught us the bitter lesson that incidents like that benefited only the cunning reckless politicians who took the opportunity to manoeuvre the situation and gained power. For minority communities, the voice was further dimmed.
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