U.S. envoy in KL wants emotional rhetoric to end

U.S. envoy in KL wants emotional rhetoric to end

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): The U.S. ambassador to Malaysia,
saying he felt personally targeted by a death threat, appealed
yesterday to leaders in both countries to put an end to emotional
rhetoric which he said threatened ties.

Ambassador John Malott, speaking four days after a member of
an unknown group threatened in a phone call to the U.S. embassy
in Kuala Lumpur to kill four Americans in Malaysia, urged
Malaysians to stop "America-bashing".

"I am concerned about the growing tendency to blame everything
that is happening on foreigners, usually Americans, or on the
foreign press, usually American-owned," the U.S. ambassador told
a news conference.

The envoy also criticized a resolution in the U.S. Congress
demanding that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
apologize for recent remarks about Jews or quit.

Mahathir last month was quoted as saying the government
suspected Jewish groups had an agenda to block Moslems' progress.
Malaysia's population is predominantly Moslem.

"I do believe it is inappropriate to call upon the leader of
another country to resign," Malott said.

Mahathir's coalition has condemned the resolution and plans to
introduce a parliamentary motion of confidence in support of the
71-year-old leader.

Malott said he called the news conference to try to help put
bilateral relations, shaken by a financial crisis in Malaysia and
mounting suspicions in Kuala Lumpur about U.S. intentions, back
on track.

"My message today is 'Enough is enough'. My message today, in
American slang is, 'Let's cool it,'" Malott said.

"My message today is that everyone on both sides of the ocean
needs to treat our important relationship with all the care and
respect it deserves."

The U.S. diplomat, who has served in Malaysia for two years,
said he felt personally targeted by the death threat, made to the
embassy last Thursday by an anonymous caller who claimed to be
from the Malaysian Moslem Martyrs' Movement.

The caller spoke in English with what embassy officials
thought was a Malaysian accent, the ambassador said.

Malott said neither the embassy nor Malaysian officials had
heard of the group, but the embassy decided to take the calls
seriously.

"Let's say I took it personally since in any country, the
United States ambassador is always the first target of a
terrorist," he said. "So I took it rather personally."

Malott said security had been tightened for U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Energy, Sanctions and Commodities William
Ramsay, due in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Ramsay's visit, to explain
a U.S. law that threatens sanctions on certain firms doing
business in Iran, has prompted outrage in Malaysia.

Washington has listed Malaysia's state oil and gas company,
Petronas, among three firms that might be subject to the U.S. law
for a $2 billion joint gas deal in Iran.

Malott said the mounting criticism of Americans in the
Malaysian press had not yet affected official ties.

"All Americans in this country, private as well as official,
feel a great amount of discomfort because the rhetoric, the anti-
American rhetoric that seems to be very, very pervasive.

"It's almost like I dread waking up in the morning to see what
the newspapers have to say about us that day because it almost
seems like page two every morning is the America-bashing page."