[Mahathir nampaknya 'sibuk' sahaja dan kerap lari dari bertemu dengan ketua-ketua negara dunia yang perihatin terhadap hak-hak kemanusian dan nasib yang menimpa Anwar. Seperti yang dijangkakan dia tidak akan ke Brisbane, Australia, untuk menghadiri sidang CHOGM setelah dia mengejek loghat rakyat negara itu dalam perhimpunan agung Umno. Ejekkannya itu adalah satu sikap yang haprak yang tidak sepatutnya ditertawa oleh ahli Umno kerana kini rakyat Australia pula akan mentertawakan kehaprakan pemimpin Umno.

Mahathir telah memalukan Malaysia dengan ejekannya itu dan telah menambah musuh dan masalah yang sudahpun terlalu banyak kepada negara. Tentunya rakyat Australia yang sensitif tidak sudi melancung ke Malaysia kerana tidak senang dengan kata-katanya itu. Siapakah yang akan semakin rugi jika tidak rakyat Malaysia juga? Mahathir telah mewas-waskan rakyat Australia untuk berkunjung ke negara kita di saat kita amat memerlukan mereka untuk memulihkan sedikit ekonomi yang sudah tercedera.
- Editor]

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/
asia/story/0,1870,63078,00.html?

Mahathir won't go to Brisbane meeting

His decision to miss the Commonwealth event is due to his busy schedule andis not a snub to Australia, says official

By Leslie Lau
IN KUALA LUMPUR

MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad will not attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Brisbane in October but a senior government official insisted yesterday that this was not a snub to Australia.

The official, from the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister's office, told The Straits Times that Dr Mahathir's busy schedule prevented him from attending the meeting.

He said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would represent him instead.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur was told by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry in June that Dr Mahathir would not be coming for the CHOGM meeting.

More than 50 nations will be represented at the Brisbane meeting and 40 heads of government have accepted invitations.

The Sydney Morning Herald noted that Dr Mahathir has long had a fractious relationship with Australia and that Malaysia had sought to contain Australia's role in the region at every opportunity.

When Mr Paul Keating was Australian Prime Minister, he had a falling out with Dr Mahathir after calling him 'recalcitrant'.

However, the Malaysian official said the government had no problem with Australia and added: 'There is no question of a snub. That is the interpretation of the Sydney Morning Herald.

'As far as we know, it is not the Australian government's interpretation that we have snubbed them.'

Another official told The Straits Times that it was illogical for Malaysia to snub Australia.

'After all, we have no fight with John Howard, and Paul Keating was a long time ago,' he said.

Canberra has not commented officially on Dr Mahathir's plan not to attend the CHOGM meeting.

Dr Mahathir last attended the event in 1997 in Edinburgh, Scotland, but skipped the gathering in Durban, South Africa, in 1999 because of national polls in Malaysia.

Australians have grown increasingly sensitive about ties between the two countries.

In February, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer accused Malaysia of blocking its participation in Asian meetings ahead of the World Conference Against Racism.

He was criticised for meeting Malaysian opposition leader and Parti Islam (PAS) president Datuk Fadzil Noor in Canberra recently.

Dr Mahathir responded to the meeting by telling Australia to look into its own affairs and to deal with problems facing the aborigines there.

He also mimicked the Australian accent at the Umno general assembly in June.