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.