The United States government has previously criticised the Malaysian government for implementing the ISA , and Mahathir has not hesitated to point to the United States for justification of his own actions . In speaking of arbitrary detention without trial of prisoners of conscience in Malaysia , he said : " Events in the United States have shown that there are instances where certain special powers need to be used in order to protect the public for the general good . " In 2003 Mahathir spoke to the Non-Aligned Movement in Kuala Lumpur . He blamed Western nations and Israel for a global rise in terrorism : " If innocent people who died in the attack on Afghanistan and those who have been dying from lack of food and medical care in Iraq are considered collaterals , are the 3,000 who died in New York and the 200 in Bali also just collaterals whose deaths are necessary for operations to succeed ? " He also said : " If we think back , there was no systematic campaign of terror outside Europe until the Europeans and the Jews created a Jewish state out of Palestinian land . " A 2003 house hearing by the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific of the U.S. House International Relations Committee ( now called the House Committee on Foreign Affairs ) summarises the relationship between the United States and Malaysia as follows : " Despite sometimes blunt and intemperate public remarks by Prime Minister Mahathir , U.S.-Malaysian cooperation has a solid record in areas as diverse as education , trade , military relations , and counter-terrorism . " Mahathir 's relationship with Australia ( the closest country in the Anglosphere to Malaysia , and the one whose foreign policy is most concentrated on the region ) , and his relationship with Australia 's political leaders , has been particularly rocky . Relationships between Mahathir and Australia 's leaders reached a low point in 1993 when Paul Keating described Mahathir as " recalcitrant " for not attending the APEC summit . It is thought that Keating 's description was a linguistic gaffe , and that what he had in mind was " intransigent "
200 in Bali
2002 Bali bombings
Mahathir Mohamad