Uncle Sam to the rescue?

the political impact of American involvement in Asean security and political issues in the wake of 9/11

Noor

pp. 207-242

in: Tony Judt, Denis Lacorne (eds), With us or against us, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005

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.