The regional anti-terror centre to be set up and sited in Malaysia has generated a degree of public interest in the nature and scope of the bilateral security cooperation between Malaysia and the United States even though the anti-terror centre is most probably to be founded on the multilateral basis of the Aug 1 Asean-US Joint Declaration to Combat International Terrorism.

The interest is only understandable as widespread concern over terrorism and counter-terrorism intensified after the Bali bomb blast and the recent outcry over a UN Security Council document which links, in a chart, al-Qaeda to a few ruling parties and non-governmental organisations in Malaysia.

However, contrary to popular misconceptions created by, among others, the frequent and apparently anti-Western and anti-American remarks of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and a segment of the official journalists, semi-official columnists and know-all writers in the official newspapers, Malaysia (and Malaya before 1963) has always maintained close, stable and even increasingly strengthened security cooperation with the United States since Aug 31, 1957.

Whether they privately believe in what they say or write publicly is another matter. Or, whether Mahathir himself and his close advisers and supporters actually hold dissenting opinions on certain occasions from the security and defence establishments in Malaysia is also worth exploring.

Joint military training

However, it was Mahathir who first signed a bilateral training arrangement with the United States in 1984 to facilitate regular Malaysian-US military joint exercises and training.

According to a Filipino academic who researches on international and regional issues, Renato Cruz de Castro, in 1992, the Mahathir government "offered repair and replenishment facilities at its Lumut Naval Base to encourage the continued deployment of US fleets to the region". (see article 'Managing Strategic Unipolarity: the ASEAN states' Responses to the post-Cold War Regional Environment' in Derek da Cunha ed. Southeast Asian Perspectives on Security, Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2000; p 64)

In 1992, the US Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines were closed down as the result of the expiry and non-renewal of the land leases as well as pressure from nationalist public opinion.

There was, however, a sense of anxiety and fear on the part of some governments in the region that the US might withdraw militarily from the post-Cold War region or, at least, reduce significantly its security interests and commitments in the Asia-Pacific region and Southeast Asia. Particularly, an economically revitalised and politically assertive China has been felt, rightly or wrongly, as a potential 'de-stabiliser' in the region.

Recently, a defence analyst teaching in the Department of International and Strategic Studies of Universiti Malaya, KS Balakrishnan called that decision in 1992 a move that "has definitely enhanced defence cooperation" between Malaysia and the United States. (see article 'US-Malaysia Eye to Eye on Regional Security", in Asian Defence & Diplomacy, Vol 9 No 10, Oct 2002)

Najib's revelations

Some forms of regular security cooperation, military joint exercises and training programmes conducted in recent years were publicly revealed by current Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak when he visited the Pentagon and later lectured to the Heritage Foundation on May 3 this year.

According to Najib, between late 1999 and May 2002, there had been more than 75 US military ship visits to Malaysia, and since Sept 11, 2001, Malaysian armed forces have been protecting US ships in the Straits of Malacca.

Moreover, "the United States has excellent access to Malaysia intelligence", and this was confirmed by a fact sheet issued by the Pentagon on May 22, 2002, and titled International Contribution to the War Against Terrorism.

The Pentagon fact sheet records that Malaysia "has provided access to Malaysian intelligence" as well as having "approved all requests for overflight since Sept 11 (2001)".

Najib officially visited the Pentagon on May 2 this year and held talks with his American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld. On May 14, Mahathir also went to Washington, DC and visited President George W Bush in the White House.

According to a US State Department record, Rumsfeld, after meeting to Najib, "praised the role Malaysia (plays) in the war on terrorism". Rumsfeld also reportedly noted that Najib had invited him to visit Malaysia "later this year".

Rumsfeld is recorded as noting that the military-to-military relationship between the United States and Malaysia has "evolved" and "strengthened" since it was set up in the mid-1980s.

Mahathir, the rebel

Before assuming the top office of the government on July 18, 1981, Mahathir was publicly known for his open criticism and defiance of the pro-West foreign and defence policies of the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, who signed the Anglo-Malayan/Malaysian Defence Agreement (Amda) with Britain in 1957.

Under Amda (1957-1971), while independent Malaya allowed military bases and facilities of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries and their armed forces to be stationed here, the British-led Commonwealth Strategic Reserve (CSR) reciprocated by committing to the external defence of Malaya.

Under Article VIII of Amda, CSR was even allowed to be transferred out of Malaya to serve in security operations of the US-led Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation (Seato). Seato, the institutional expression of the 1954 Southeast Asian Collective Defence Treaty (Manila Pact), was viewed with suspicion and hostility by the former Soviet Union, China Union, Indonesia, India and many Third World countries who grouped themselves in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

In May 1965, Mahathir, who was then only a young and 'radical' backbencher, led a non-official delegation to attend the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation held at Winneba in Ghana to promote non-alignment as an alternative to Tunku's pro-Western and pro-US foreign and defence policies. Tunku reportedly attacked the organisation as a "communist setup financed by Russia and China".

In his 21 years in top office, Mahathir has been positively or negatively well-known for his public and vocal criticisms against what he felt to be Western "neo-colonialism", "neo-imperialism", liberal democracy, universal human rights and "free market". Mahathir has also been reportedly critical of the American military solution to terrorism.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM) which produces the subscriber-based political report, Analysis Malaysia. Wong is a former member of parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily. He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew, he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.