US President Barack Obama arrives Saturday in Malaysia hoping to energize ties with a Muslim-majority nation whose government is under the microscope for wide allegations of abuse of power and the loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Washington is keen to emphasis its relations with economically successful, moderate-Muslim Malaysia as the United States battles image problems in the Islamic world.
Obama becomes the first serving US president to visit since Lyndon Johnson in 1966 as he tours Asia to fortify alliances amid concern over China´s rise and push his troubled plans for a Pacific-wide trade pact.
