Much ado about Anwar

Why the fuss?

What should have been a simple social visit nearly escalated into a potential diplomatic row that would have put two friendly governments in a needlessly embarassing position.

And eventually, this episode only helped to stimulate greater sympathy for the very person one government sought to restrict.

Former prisoner and Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's recent visit to Indonesia is another test for the growing democratic climate in Southeast Asia.

In the past, it was commonplace for mutually repressive political regimes in the region to shun politically blacklisted figures of neighboring countries. We, in Indonesia, to some extent, are thankfully moving away from such practices.

Political opposition is part-and-parcel of democracy. To excise courtesy simply because a visitor is a known-political opponent is a culture Indonesians should reject.

Once perceived as the heir-apparent to Mahathir Mohammad, Anwar fell out of favor with the then-Malaysian leader and was jailed in 1999 for what his supporters claim were trumped-up charges of sodomy and graft. After spending six years in jail, Anwar was freed in September when a higher court overturned the conviction.

Despite his release, Anwar is barred from seeking political office until 2008.

Kuala Lumpur's consternation over Anwar's visit to meet with notable figures to Indonesia is understandable. As a regime which has dominated the political scene for decades by effectively muzzling open opposition, the enterprise of someone like Anwar is a foreboding sign for its future.

However, whether Anwar represents a legitimate democratic opposition candidate in the future is something, in the end, that Malaysians should decide.

But waging a public relations battle against Anwar on foreign soil only fuels sympathy for him and adds to his standing as a new patron saint for political prisoners in Southeast Asia.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week cautioned foreign leaders about meeting Anwar, saying they should consider Malaysia's feelings about the country's opposition leaders who sought appointments.

Badawi's remarks were clearly inappropriate. Anwar is neither a convict nor a fugitive. That he is regarded as an "opposition" leader should not discourage Indonesian leaders from meeting him.

If Malaysia professes to be a democracy, then opposition leaders are legitimate members of the political infrastructure and have equal rights.

Anwar's tour here, for example, is parallel to any visit conducted by Indonesia's opposition leaders to other countries. Would Jakarta express scorn if the Golkar Party's Akbar Tandjung or the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's Megawati Soekarnoputri met with senior regional politicians?

We think, and hope, this would not be the case.

If Malaysia is not claiming to uphold democratic principles and is in fact a place where oppositions are considered subversive, then the context of Badawi's remarks are more explicable.

The Prime Minister's comments also fly in the face of the recently concluded ASEAN Summit in Vientiane at which member nations professed a desire to forge ahead with political development as part of a greater ASEAN Community.

If speculation is to be trusted, then the most-regretable outcome of this affair was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's decision not to meet with Anwar as a result of Kuala Lumpur's comments.

As Indonesia's first democratically elected leader, Susilo should be at the forefront of its defense. Diplomacy may require such overtures, but as friends and neighbors both countries should also be brutally frank with each other.

In the end, Anwar's visit was really much ado about nothing.

Anwar came and went, the same way he arrived: With much fanfare and little substance. He was the darling of the media while here, but that will be his fate anywhere he goes.

It is true Anwar met with, among others, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid.

However we are sure that such meetings will have little impact on the sway of Malaysian politics, or are likely to enhance Anwar's standing as a protagonist of Malaysian reformasi in that country any more than before he arrived.