US
President Barack Obama and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have vowed
closer ties. The announcement came during Obama's Asia tour, as he seeks to
rebalance diplomatic relations with the region's leading nations.
The visit
of US President Obama to Malaysia over the weekend was expected to result in an
agreement of closer security and trade ties between the two nations. Following
a private meeting on Sunday morning, the two leaders held a joint press
conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib Razak said Obama had agreed to greater cooperation.
"This
marks a new phase in our relationship, with greater collaboration in economy,
security, education, science, technology," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
said.
"We
also decided to (reconfigure) senior officials' dialogues as a key forum for
high-level discussion,” he added.
Obama is
the first US president to visit Malaysia since Lyndon Johnson in 1966. His stop
in the Asian country - home to a diverse ethnic and religious population - came
on the third leg of his tour of the continent. Relations were strained during
the 1981-2003 tenure of Malaysia's authoritarian leader Mahathir Mohamad, who
was a strong critic of US policies.
Obama calls
for greater transparency
The US
leader gave few details of how future relations with Malaysia would look at the
Sunday press conference. Instead he opted to focus on implications of theMalaysian government's handling of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 and
its human rights records.
Referring
to Kuala Lumpur's failure to effectively disclose key information about the
missing Boeing 777 early on in the search, Obama stressed that it must
cooperate between its foreign partners.
"There
should be full transparency in terms of what we know and what we don't
know," Obama said.
He also
pledged further US assistance in the case, which has required a wealth of financial and logistical resources to scan the southern Indian Ocean.
"I can
tell you the United States is absolutely committed to providing whatever
resources and assets that we can," Obama said.
Kuala
Lumpur has drawn the most criticism from Beijing, in particular, for its
handling of the mysterious disappearance of MH370. Nearly two-thirds of the 239
passengers on board were Chinese nationals.
Malayisa
still has 'work to do'
Ahead of
his visit, human rights activists urged Obama to meet with convicted opposition
leader Anwar Ibrahim, who faces a jail sentence on sodomy charges. Ibrahim has
said the charges were politically motivated by a "corrupt and
authoritarian regime."
Obama – who
has sent national security advisor Susan Rice to meet with Ibrahim on Monday –
called for the Malaysian government to be more aware of the dangers of
discrimination.
"I
think we just have to be clear and stead in denouncing it, teaching our
children differently," the US president said, adding that he would continue
encouraging the Malaysian premier to "make sure he makes progress on that
front."
"I
think the prime minister is the first to acknowledge that Malaysia's still got
some work to do," Obama added.
Muslims
comprise roughly 60 percent of the ethnically and religiously diverse country's
population, while Buddhists account for about 19 percent and Christians roughly
10 percent. Approximately 50 percent of Malaysians come from the ethnic Malay
community, and a further 23 percent from the ethnic Chinese community.
Critics accuse the Malaysian premier of attempting to shore up Malay votes by infringing on the rights of minority ethnic and religious groups.
Obama is
scheduled to wrap up his Asia tour, which began with visits to Japan and South
Korea, with a visit to the Philippines on Monday.
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