As a graduate of a US university and beneficiary of her liberal education, I am of the opinion that the Bush administration in the US should be more actively concerned with the situation of human rights issues in Asia, particularly Malaysia.

US, as the guarantor of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region, should see to it that it adopts an even-handed policy in engaging both the government and the legitimate opposition in, for example, Malaysia.

In this era of Information Revolution and the rise of the educated masses demanding for democracy and human rights, the US cannot afford to be perceived to be supportive of dictatorship, soft-fascism or illiberal democracy.

The late 1980s has shown that once these dictatorships, soft-fascists and illiberal democracies, like Malaysia and Singapore, are free of checks and balances, they would gang up to the detriment of the US and the West. It is time for the US administration not to be deceived by Third World propaganda again.