George Soros's defense

To no one's surprise, United States financier George Soros strongly defended himself yesterday against what he termed "false and vile accusations" by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Nor was anyone surprised when Mr. Soros concluded a 30-minute speech at the annual seminar of the World Bank here by describing Dr. Mahathir as "a menace to his own country". Soros is not the first person to suggest that Mahathir's constant criticisms of foreigners could have an adverse effect on the multibillion- dollar Malaysian projects that rely heavily on foreign technology and investment. The planned multimedia super corridor near Kuala Lumpur is just one example.

Nor is Soros the only one to take issue with Mahathir's call to outlaw currency trading. Even Malaysian Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim stressed yesterday that Malaysia had no intention of changing foreign currency trading rules.

Mahathir has been a strong and decisive leader of Malaysia for the past 16 years. Many people in this part of the world have endorsed his argument that Washington and other Western capitals do not provide the only models of democracy in the world. And there has been general agreement in Malaysia that his leadership has been the country's greatest strength during its transition in the space of two decades from being a developing world producer of commodities to an Asian Tiger economy driven by manufacturing exports.

But the Malaysian prime minister has not been so surefooted lately. British writer James Kynge recently accused him of "playing a game of brinkmanship with global market forces". Others have deplored his intemperate outbursts, including his description of currency trading as "unnecessary, unproductive and totally immoral". Soros is not the only one to warn that this kind of rhetoric might put Malaysia's remarkable economic achievements at risk.

-- The Hong Kong Standard