Uncle Sam to the Rescue? The Political Impact of American Involvement in ASEAN Security and Political Issues in the Wake of 9/11

Abstract

Political realities are just as much the result of discursive activity as they are rooted in concrete facts and figures. This fact was demonstrated most explicitly in the discursive and ideological acrobatics performed by the leaders of Western and Southeast Asian countries in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States of America on September 11, 2001. To bring home the reality of the events that took place thousands of miles away, the Kuala Lumpur Commercial Centre (KLCC) twin towers in Malaysia were evacuated the following day, after a bomb scare that came just as Malaysians were coming to terms with the loss of Malaysian workers who were lost or killed in the New York attacks. The form and content of Malaysian political discourse was subsequently altered on the basis of a simple rumor.

Never have the armies of the North brought peace, prosperity, or democracy to the peoples of Asia, Africa, or Latin America. In the future, as in the past five centuries, they can only bring to these peoples further servitude, the exploitation of their labour, the expropriation of their riches, and the denial of their rights. It is of the utmost importance that the progressive forces of the world understand this.

Samir Amin, Arab Political Scientist, writing in al-Ahram, May 2003