PETALING JAYA, April 22 — President Barack Obama’s decision not to meet with Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here this weekend raises questions over the United States’ commitment towards democracy, freedom and justice, PKR claimed today.

The party’s outgoing secretary-general, Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, further asserted that the Americans are well aware that the opposition Pakatan Rakyat pact led by Anwar was defeated by allegedly unfair practices in last year’s national polls despite getting 52 per cent of the popular vote.

“This should have been taken into consideration by the Obama administration, that the majority support in Malaysia is for Pakatan Rakyat,” he said at a press conference at the party headquarters here.

Saifuddin acknowledged that Obama is bound by the principle of non-interference in the affairs of a sovereign nation like Malaysia, but insisted that there are bigger issues of injustice that the world superpower cannot ignore.

The senior PKR leader said Malaysia has long suffered from malapportioned  constituencies and gerrymandering, and the alleged abuse of the judiciary to politically persecute Anwar, of which the US are well aware.

The party's outgoing strategy director, Rafizi Ramli, admitted that they did not request for a meeting between the two leaders, but stressed that they should not have had to, given the circumstances surrounding the US' push for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

He claimed that he had, during a meeting with an official from the US Department of State, expressed in the “strongest terms that the US credibility in common Malaysians will plunge” if the controversial trade pact is made an overwhelming priority.

“At the rate things are going, obviously more and more Malaysians feel that the interest of the TPPA on the part of the Obama administration will be seen by the public to override any other democratic principles by Malaysia,” he said.

It was reported last week that Obama has no plans to meet with Anwar, despite Washington's concerns that the opposition leader's ongoing Sodomy II case is part of a string of politically motivated charges to take him out of Malaysian politics.

National security advisor Susan Rice confirmed that the US president is “not likely” to meet with Anwar, though she indicated that there could be other engagements at other levels.

Obama will be the first sitting US president to visit Malaysia in nearly 50 years when he arrives on April 26, at the tail end of a weeklong tour of Asia which will include Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.