Anwar should not revoke Trump invitation

Anwar should not revoke Trump invitation

S Thayaparan
Published: Oct 6, 2025 7:30 AM
Updated: 10:30 AM


“Covfefe.”

- US President Donald Trump


COMMENT | The upcoming visit of Donald Trump will be another opportunity for extremists to vent. As the Asean chair, Malaysia’s invitation to the US president, as odious as he is, should be a non-issue for rational thinking people.

Calls to revoke the invitation are the craven political plays of local politicians who are very much like the acolytes who support and are enabled by Trump in the US.

Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh, for instance, belongs in the coterie of toxic and incompetent personalities that Trump places in positions of power.

Supporters of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (including the religious outfits sanctioned by the state) are bending over backwards attempting to justify Trump’s participation.

But the reality is that Asean leaders are no doubt welcoming this news as a chance for facetime (for whatever reasons) or to “make a deal” with probably the biggest kleptocrat in the world, and the president who truly embodies the notion that cash is king.

It’s about Asean, not Gaza

This isn’t about how the prime minister is failing Gazans or betraying Islamic values, but the necessity for countries in the region to engage with Trump for geopolitical reasons.

In fact, Anwar would be failing in his stewardship of Asean if he banned Trump, not to mention making a volatile regional economy worse. Deputy minister M Kulasegaran was correct when he pointed out that regional meetings should not be dominated by a single issue.

I wonder if the Umno Youth chief will carry out his protests in front of Trump if he visits? Akmal talked big and said, “Let us face Trump head-on! Hurting them (Global Sumud Flotilla activists) is the same as hurting all of us Malaysians!”

But when push comes to shove, will the local agitator dare go against the Madani security apparatus, which would be out in full force for Trump’s visit?

Picking on “apeks” is one thing; going against the state when it comes to a visiting dignitary who happens to be the most powerful man in the free world, another.

The recent outrageous behaviour by the state security apparatus in the protests outside the US embassy is demonstrative of how the state is losing control of the situation after enabling anti-Jewish, as opposed to anti-Zionist, agitators within Malaysian society.

Police arresting a protester outside the US Embassy during a demonstration on Oct 2


People clutching their pearls about the optics of anti-Trump/Israel protests presented to other Asean leaders need to take a chill pill or two.

Protests against Trump happen every time he visits most countries. And let us face facts, countries in Asean, for the most part, aren’t models of democratic imperatives.

Now, governments may want to clamp down on protests to pucker up to him, but this is more of a reflection on the kind of leaders Trump admires than any real bad optics to other visiting leaders.

Trump is only interested in making dodgy deals with Middle Eastern potentates and having other world leaders kiss his rear end.

Anwar should not focus too much on Gaza

If I were Anwar’s handlers, I would be concerned about pushing the Gaza agenda forcefully for a couple of reasons.

The first is that there is no unified perspective of Asean countries when it comes to the genocide in Gaza.

While the propaganda arms of the state are painting this as an opportunity for the prime minister to engage Trump on the Gaza genocide, the reality is that Asean countries would rather not have Gaza overshadow the issues they are facing with Trump’s economic terrorism.

The second is that Malaysia is supporting a group that the US has designated as a terrorist organisation.

Anwar has claimed that he didn’t bow to pressure when advocating for Gazans. The prime minister, for whatever reason, has not made any nuanced comments about Hamas.

This is unlike other world leaders who have condemned Israel’s atrocities, are willing to recognise Palestine as a state, but also acknowledge that Hamas is a destabilising presence in the Middle East.

The optics could play out very badly for the prime minister if he publicly engages Trump on this issue and turns the summit into a manure show.

However, if Anwar does not publicly address the issue with Trump, this would leave him open to attacks from Perikatan Nasional about how he is betraying Gazans, the Islamic faith, and people who oppose Trump and Israel in this country. But this is the game Anwar set up for himself.

Much ado about nothing

Ultimately, Trump’s visit means very little because nothing this president says means anything.

This is a president whose imposition of tariffs is hurting his country, not to mention, as the Singapore prime minister said, disrupting international laws and norms.

This is a president who threatens economically successful states controlled by his political opponents with military intervention.

This is a president who engages in the kind of corruption, especially with Middle Eastern countries, that would make former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak blush.

This is a president who posts AI-generated misinformation on X and relies on gullible saps here and abroad to disseminate false information.

This is a president who plays on the grievances of people who are frustrated with the system, but are unable to understand, for whatever reason, that he only serves the plutocratic class.

Anwar may catch Trump in one of his sundowning moments, and either hilarity or big beautiful deals for Malaysia could be achieved. Either way, this is the US president the world and Madani must deal with.



S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”