Arroyo draws hard line on Malaysia's Anwar, Abu Sayyaf
Arroyo draws hard line on Malaysia's Anwar, Abu Sayyaf
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo drew a hard line on Thursday on Malaysia's jailed politician, Anwar Ibrahim, saying she would not meet with his wife unless the Malaysian government gave the green light.
Arroyo also ruled out negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang over ransom for the dozens of hostages they hold, including at least two Americans, but left the door open for them to discuss a peace settlement.
She warned speculators not to drive down the peso, saying she would not exclude imposing a currency peg if it fails to attain the value she says is justified by economic fundamentals - 50 to the U.S. dollar - by year-end. The peso closed at 53.00 in Manila, down from 53.150 on Wednesday.
Arroyo told a news conference wrapping up a three-day visit that she was grateful for Malaysian help in brokering a cease- fire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, raising hopes of ending decades of fighting in the southern Philippines. The deal leaves the Abu Sayyaf as the only Muslim separatist group still fighting her government.
Arroyo's gratitude appears to have healed a rift between the two Southeast Asian countries since her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, received Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife and chief campaigner for his release from prison, after Anwar was jailed in 1998.
Arroyo said that if she was confronted by a request from Azizah to visit her in Manila, she would run it by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's office first.
"If he gave so much as a hint he would not be happy, I would not go through with it," Arroyo said.
Arroyo expressed admiration for Mahathir, Asia's longest- serving leader, likening him to a "brother" and a model leader for his "plain talk and common sense. I'm very much like that, too."
Arroyo, who was vice president until Estrada was ousted from office in January amid a corruption scandal, was asked if she would seek election to the presidency in 2004. She replied: "Well, I'm eligible."
Anwar was Mahathir's heir-apparent until the pair had a falling out over the Asian economic crisis and Mahathir fired him as deputy premier, triggering Malaysia's biggest street protests in decades.
Anwar has been tried and convicted of sodomy and corruption and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He claims that he was framed to prevent him from challenging Mahathir for power. The government denies it.
Azizah leads the National Justice Party, member of an opposition front that made gains against Mahathir's government in elections in 1999, though the ruling coalition retained power.
Arroyo said she would abide by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' bedrock principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs - noting that the Philippines had invited Malaysian help in brokering this week's cease-fire.
The accord, filling in details of a broader framework agreed to in Libya in June, would bring the Islamic Front off the battlefield, joining the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which made peace in 1996 in exchange for a degree of autonomy.
Arroyo said that she would not follow Estrada's policy of negotiating ransom with Abu Sayyaf, which received million of dollars in payments last year after seizing foreign tourists and local workers at a Malaysian resort, then embarked on new kidnapping and killing sprees.
"The idea is to stop giving in," Arroyo said. "Negotiating for coming into the fold of law, that's all right. But negotiation for ransom is always ruled out."
Arroyo later left Malaysia for Davao, Mindanao. She appealed Wednesday to Malaysian businessmen to invest and lift the war- ravaged region out the poverty.