WAS IT A POLITICAL JUNKET? – THE FACT IS ‘TIN KOSONG’ ANWAR’S SAUDI VISIT YIELDED ZERO OR CLOSE TO ZERO – BUT ANWARISTAS INSIST HIS VISIT SUCCESSFUL DESPITE OBVIOUS SNUB BY SAUDI KING, CROWN PRINCE – PERHAPS ANWAR IS SEEN AS PRO-U.S. IN A REGION THAT HAS LITTLE AFFECTION LEFT FOR WASHINGTON
‘PM’s Saudi visit a success despite no meeting with king, crown prince’
The success of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s official visit to Saudi Arabia should not be judged solely on the fact that there was no meeting with King Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud or Crown Prince Mohammed Salman Al Saud.
Community Communications Department (J-Kom) director-general Mohammad Agus Yusoff was responding to Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) three main criticisms that painted Anwar’s official three-day visit as a failure.
“The three main issues are the prime minister was only greeted by the governor of Jeddah, he was not taken inside the Kaabah and there was no meeting with King Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud or Crown Prince Mohammed Salman Al Saud.
“To add spice to the story, they (critics) compared the apparent successes of former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s official visit with that of Anwar’s. They said, when Muhyiddin visited Saudi, his delegation was greeted by King Salman,” said Agus on Facebook.
He pointed out that while Anwar had made the visit after four months in office, Muhyiddin had done so only after a year in power.
“But because of political differences (or maybe vengeance), Anwar’s visit was described as a waste of public funds and holiday trip,” said Agus.
Community Communications Department director-general Mohammad Agus Yusoff
Among others, PN Foreign Affairs Committee chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal yesterday said questions arise as Wisma Putra had previously announced that an agenda of the visit would include a meeting with the crown prince – who is also Saudi’s prime minister.
By extension, the Bersatu Youth chief said Anwar had also failed to meet his other counterpart, Saudi’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan.
“Have the goals of this official visit been met with the absence of these meetings, based on Malaysia-Saudi bilateral ties?” he asked.
Agus, in response, highlighted Anwar’s other agendas during the visit, including receiving a courtesy call from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary-general Hissein Brahim Taha; witnessing the signing of three memoranda of understandings between Malaysian companies and their Saudi counterparts; as well as addressing the larger business communities in Jeddah.
He also noted that King Salman was among the earliest world leaders to congratulate Anwar after being named as prime minister, despite attempts by PN to raise questions over strained ties.
Contrary to PN’s claims, Agus reiterated that Anwar was unable to fulfil Saudi’s request for his visit to be extended by two days due to changes in the king and crown prince’s schedules, in light of Ramadan that began on Thursday.
Anwar had reportedly expressed disappointment that he was unable to extend the visit to Saudi as there was an official cabinet breaking fast event with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong last night, as well as official visits to Cambodia and China starting tomorrow.
‘Reveal cost of trip’
Meanwhile, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal urged Anwar to reveal the cost of his Saudi trip, which also included his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir and Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
“In line with the prime minister’s strong commitment to austerity measures within his administration, I urge him to table in Parliament the entire cost for this trip, including all preparations for travel costs and expenditures for security personnel from the prime minister’s office and offices of other accompanying ministers,” he said.
In response, Agus said the question can be posed to Anwar during the weekly Prime Minister’s Question Time in Parliament, scheduled every Tuesday. MKINI
A. There was no official invitation from the Oo of Oo Ba Doo. It was not an official visit. B. So it was nothing more than a political junket.Dictionary, Definitions from Oxford Languages
noun: junket; plural noun: junkets
1. informal,an extravagant trip or celebration, in particular one enjoyed by a government official at public expense.
The whole fiasco can be cleared up in an instant if they can show black and white proof of an official invitation from the Oo of Oo Ba Doo. For example :
“HRH the Oo of Oo Ba Doo hereby extends his official invitation to the Happy Grasshopper to come on an official visit to the fiefdom of Oo Ba Doo from the 35th to the 38th day of the season of the Weeds.”
Mystery solved. The problem is there was no such invitation. So the mystery remains.
Why? To what purpose? To impress the people back home – at the public’s expense of course. That they were highly regarded by the fiefdom of Oo Ba Doo, home to the Mother of Two Cities.
Great treaties would be signed. There were none.
Great swarms of FDI golden locusts would fall upon our heads. There were none.
Great cohorts of saviours would come. There were none.
It was just a political junket. A gimmick.
Another one for the TV cameras, Instagram, Twitter and what not.
Also they could charge the whole trip to Mr and Mrs ‘Dont know what is going on’. Because someone (else) had to pay for the entire entourage.
Since there was no official invitation this could not be an official trip. If it was not an official trip there cannot be an entourage tagging along at public expense.
So it was made to appear like an official visit at the official invitation of the Oo of Oo Ba Doo.
publicly unannounced trip
people weren’t too sure if private or official visit
timing wasn’t right, beginning of feasting
press release stating visit was at invitation of Oo of Oo Ba Doo further stated that audiences with Big Oo and Small Oo
media seemed to pick up interest all meetings reported on hourly basis However no meeting with Big Oo and Small Oo
became clear there would be no meetingThere was no meeting because the Oo of Oo Ba Doo had never extended an official invitation. There was no such thing. – http://syedsoutsidethebox.blogspot.com/
