In late 1998, while the leaders of various countries in Asia and the Pacific gathered in Malaysia, local protesters denounced the treatment of Anwar Ibrahim, who had recently been sacked as deputy prime minister, arrested, and then beaten while in custody. Mr Anwar's photogenic black eye had been splashed on magazine covers across the world, bringing an avalanche of foreign criticism down on the government of Mahathir Mohamad. So, after dispersing the small crowd of protesters with water cannon, a local police chief boasted of having ordered that one of the cannons should be turned on foreign journalists. Since they were the cause of all the trouble, he reckoned, the protest would break-up once the foreign media were dealt with.
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