President Obama sent his national security advisor to meet Malaysia's opposition leader. Mr. Anwar shares his message to the president with the WSJ's Deborah Kan.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—U.S. President Barack Obama pledged Sunday to encourage Malaysia to make progress on human-rights issues, saying that his decision not to meet with the chief opposition leader in this Southeast Asian country didn't indicate a lack of concern.
U.S. President Barack Obama with Malaysia's National Mosque Grand Imam Sheikh Ismail Muhammad and an embassy official Sunday in Kuala Lumpur. European Pressphoto Agency
The administration didn't offer a reason for declining a meeting with Mr. Anwar but said the president's schedule in Malaysia was packed.The president held talks with Prime Minister Najib Razak during a two-night stay aimed at deepening relations with Malaysia, but he will be leaving a meeting with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to his national security adviser, Susan Rice.
"The fact that I haven't met with Mr. Anwar in and of itself isn't indicative of our lack of concern, given the fact that there are a lot of people I don't meet with and opposition leaders that I don't meet with," Mr. Obama said at a joint news conference with Mr. Najib. "And that doesn't mean that I'm not concerned about them."
Mr. Anwar is appealing a conviction for violating Malaysia's laws against sodomy in a case that he has said is politically motivated to constrain his growing influence. He led an alliance last year that gave the governing coalition its strongest election challenge since the country gained independence in 1957.
As the president's visit to Malaysia approached, Mr. Obama faced calls from Human Rights Watch and others to publicly criticize restrictions on free speech and religious freedom. Economic and social reforms have slowed as Mr. Najib has tried to shore up his political base among the country's ethnic Malay Muslim majority.
Mr. Obama said that human rights were on the agenda during his meetings Sunday with Malaysian officials and that he made U.S. values clear.
"The prime minister is the first to acknowledge that Malaysia has still got some work to do—just like the U.S., by the way, has some work to do on these issues," Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Najib, speaking at the same news conference, defended the government's track record on civil liberties. He said that it had repealed a law that allowed detention without trial and eased rules on public assembly, an overhaul that he said shouldn't be underestimated or diminished.
Mr. Najib said that the case against Mr. Anwar was a legal matter and that the government wasn't interfering.
Later Sunday, at a town hall event at the University of Malaya, Mr. Obama said that if Malaysia is going to continue to advance, the economy must afford everybody the opportunity to succeed.
Malaysia has decades-old affirmative action law in place that have benefited the majority Malay Muslims, who were economically disadvantaged. But many among the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities complain of discrimination and the country is suffering from a so-called "brain drain," and many younger Malaysians increasingly complain about corruption and a lack of opportunity.
"It is hard to change old ways of doing things, and that is true for every country," the president said.
The president expressed his deepest condolences to the families who had lost loved ones on the Malaysian airliner, saying that the U.S. would continue to work closely with its partners to provide any needed assistance. He said that he and Mr. Najib discussed lessons learned from this tragedy and how nations might improve cooperation in the future.Mr. Obama has said that his visit to Kuala Lumpur is a chance to continue to transform the U.S. relationship with Malaysia, which has been reeling from the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU 0.00% Flight 370 nearly two months ago. Mr. Obama's trip aimed to focus on trade, defense and maritime security.
"I can't speak for all the countries in the region but I can say that the U.S. and other partners have found the Malaysian government eager for assistance and fully forthcoming with us in terms of the information that they have," Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Najib said Malaysia and the U.S. have widened their relations to a "comprehensive partnership'' that will lead to greater collaboration on the economy, security, education, science and technology. They aim to enhance security in Southeast Asia, where China has been increasingly asserting claims to the South China Sea, and to untangle issues holding back a trans-Pacific trade deal that could be a major boost for global commerce.
After a red-carpet arrival Saturday, the president was feted at a 600-guest state dinner, where he spoke of a new era of collaboration—"bekerjasama" in the local Malay language. Early Sunday, he visited the National Mosque of Malaysia including the Warrior Mausoleum, where two former prime ministers and two former deputy prime ministers are buried.
Mr. Obama told the Malaysian newspaper The Star in an interview that the visit "reflects the renewed leadership role that the U.S. is playing in the Asia Pacific" and that "expanding our ties with the nations and peoples of Southeast Asia a centerpiece of that strategy."
Mr. Najib has said that the visit could cast his country in a fresh light and that Malaysia is poised to play a bigger role in the region and on the world stage.
Mr. Obama is the first U.S. president to visit Malaysia since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. Mr. Obama had planned to travel here last autumn, but he canceled the trip in the midst of the partial government shutdown in Washington.
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