Mahathir willing to meet Soros

Mahathir willing to meet Soros

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad said yesterday he would consider meeting with U.S.
financier George Soros, whom he has accused of being behind the
recent attack on Southeast Asian currencies.

"Well, I will certainly consider it (meeting Soros). We'll
find out what he wants to explain," the national Bernama news
agency quoted Mahathir as telling reporters after a function at
the Kuala Lumpur airport.

Mahathir's comments came after a report in the New Sunday
Times newspaper that said Soros had requested a meeting with the
premier to discuss the allegations.

Mahathir had also called currency speculators "rogues" and
"robbers" who were out to destroy the region's economic progress.

"I would very much like to meet Dr Mahathir in a discussion in
a public forum, where we can discuss our differences and he can
present any evidence that he has of my nefarious activities," the
newspaper quoted Soros as saying in an exclusive interview in New
York.

The newspaper said Soros elicited the interview with its
correspondent.

Soros was quoted as saying that a date for their meeting could
be arranged in November, when he is scheduled to address the
International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meeting in Hong
Kong.

Mahathir's criticism's were sparked by heavy losses in several
Southeast Asian currencies when they came under speculative
attack in mid-May.

Mahathir last month accused Soros of attacking the currencies
of members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
to punish the regional grouping for accepting military-ruled
Burma into the organization.

The attacks led to the effective devaluations of the Thai baht
and the Philippine peso and weakened sharply other regional
units, with the ringgit falling to three-year lows.

A Soros spokesman said earlier this week that the Soros-funded
Open Society Institute was against ASEAN accepting Burma as a
member. But he said this activity was separate from Soros Fund
Management, the financier's investment arm.

"I wouldn't dream of engaging in currency speculation for
political purposes. It would be greatly resented by my
shareholders," Soros was quoted as saying by the New Sunday
Times.

"The activities of my investment funds are commercial and are
aimed at making profits. There are absolutely no connections
between the two," he added.

Soros said that over the past two months, baring $10 million
in sales of the Thai baht, his group did not sell any other
regional currency.

He said he was not in the habit of commenting or talking about
his investment activities, but he was making an exception to
explain his position to Mahathir.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The United States lobbied hard against Myanmar's entry,
formally completed last month.