Why is Anwar so cagey about his meeting next week with Pope Francis? He said it was the Pope who wanted to see him and not the other way round. Why did he have to stress that point?
Excerpts from the fz.com report Anwar: BEC is a biased group
Dr Mahathir was the first Malaysian head of government to have met the Pope and that took place in 2002. Under Najib Razak, Malaysia went on to establish diplomatic ties with the Vatican after the Prime Minister met the Pope in 2011. Islam is the official religion of Malaysia but Muslims here have no problems with having diplomatic ties with the Vatican and did not go to the streets to oppose their PM meeting with the Pope. Neither Dr M nor Najib converted to Christianity after they met the Pope.
So why on earth should we be angry if the "people close to the Pope" wanted Anwar t meet the Pope? If Anwar did not wish to meet the Pope, the polite thing to do would be to say NO. Not by saying, "I didn't ask to meet the Pope". What's wrong if Anwar had asked to meet the Pope, anyway?
So, you see, someone's trying to make something out of nothing here. This is his problem.