Digest on Malaysian News

The month of June 2008 have been filled with incidents that make most Malaysian jittery and nausea. It first started with the government jacking up the prices of petroleum and diesel. And the cost of every other thing goes up in tandem.

Next, SAPP from Sabah push for a motion of no confidence vote of PM Abdullah Badawi at the Parliament. An action unheard of among BN component party.

Then, Raja Petra of Malaysia-Today made a Statutory Declaration stating that the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister was at crime scene. A very damaging allegation to the DPM and it some way, the PM is pull into the scene. Anwar Ibrahim could not be more happier with those trouble hitting PM Abdullah Badawi, that is until now. Tide is also against Anwar himself.

And now, the Police are investigating a sodomy claim by an ex-aide to Anwar Ibrahim, the defacto leader of the opposition coalition. Anwar Ibrahim denies the claims and there were also report that Anwar Ibrahim life was threaten and he is now taking refuge at the Turkey Embassy as a precautionary measure.

Most Malaysian viewed the latest incident as a fabrication of political image assassination of Anwar Ibrahim and there were also speculation that the incident was cooked up to distract media and citizen attention to a more damaging claim by Raja Petra Kamaruddin that the wife of DPM was involved in a murder crime.

Updated:
* Aug 24, 2008: Anwar Says No To Wallahi, Wabillahi, Watallahi


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Source: english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/06/200862942632307631.html

Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's opposition leader and former deputy prime minister, is facing new accusations of sexual misconduct.

The opposition Keadilan party said that he had been accused of sodomising a male aide.

Anwar told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the allegation was a political attack from the government after his opposition party and its allies made big gains in March elections.

"This is because there is growing support for the People's Alliance [group of opposition parties] among members of parliament ... the government is under threat and there is also a lot of disgruntlement among the Malaysian public against the abuse of power and economic woes," he said.

Ku Chin Wah, Kuala Lumpur's police chief for criminal investigations, said police were investigating the complaint.

No formal charges have been made.

Police declined to identify who made the complaint but the opposition Keadilan party said that Saiful Bahari, one of Anwar's aides, had been arrested on Saturday and "forced" to make a statement saying Anwar had sodomised him.

'Dirty tactics'

Anwar was ousted from government in a power struggle in 1998 amid charges of corruption and sodomy.

Anwar revealed "I fear for my safety ... my friends are very concerned for my safety. I was beaten to near death when I was in detention"

He was convicted on both charges the following year and served six years in jail before the sodomy conviction was overturned.

The fresh accusations, Anwar says, are "dirty tactics" to cover up evidence of government misconduct and evidence tampering.

"I have ... made it known that I have in my possession, documents implicating the inspector-general of police and the attorney-general in misconduct, including the fabrication of evidence in the cases launched against me in 1998 and 1999," he said.

"I fear for my safety ... my friends are very concerned for my safety. I was beaten to near death when I was in detention ... but they [the authorities] have given a flimsy statement that I will not be arrested for now."

Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia's prime minister, denies Anwar's charges.

"The government has no intention of wanting to make life difficult for him or to harass him," Abdullah said.

Police investigation

Ismail Omar, Kuala Lumpur's deputy police chief, confirmed a sodomy complaint had been lodged but said Anwar would not be arrested "at the moment".

"We will investigate this report first. We will look into it and carry out the necessary steps before issuing any warrant of arrest," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

If eventually charged, Anwar could face 20 years in prison.

Param Cumarasamy, the former UN special rapporteur on the independence of lawyers and judges, says the government's handling of the incident will be carefully scrutinised, both by the Malaysian public and by the international community.

"It is just not Anwar that is going to be on trial here. Once again, the entire institute of justice is going to be on trial," he told Al Jazeera.

"The question which will be asked, is whether Anwar will receive a fair prosecution."

Anwar led an alliance of opposition parties to unprecedented gains in elections in March, wresting a third of parliamentary seats and five states from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Since then he has claimed he has the support of enough members of parliament to form a new government.

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Source: thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/29/nation/20080629114410&sec=nation

PUTRAJAYA: Parti Keadilan Raykat leaders decided Sunday morning that the party's de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stay at the Turkish Embassy for his safety after he received death threats.

(Latest: Allies, opponents react to Anwar sodomy allegation).

His family visited him at the Embassy at Jalan U Thant Sunday evening, PKR vice-president Azmin Ali said.

At a press conference earlier Sunday, Anwar's wife and PKR president Satin Seri Wan Azizah Ismail said the death threats had come less than a day after an aide of Anwar's had lodged a police report alleging he was sodomised by the one-time deputy prime minister.

She said PKR had released pictures of the aide showing him with cabinet ministers and their high-ranking staff, which she claimed was evidence of political assassination.

Anwar was was sacked by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over similar allegations in 1998.

Federal CID director Comm Datuk Mohd Bakri Zinin said the police would conduct a thorough and fair investigation into the sodomy allegations.

They will also investigate the allegations before taking a statement from Anwar, he said.

Earlier Sunday, Current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reiterated that the Barisan Nasional Government was not behind the latest allegation of sodomy against Anwar.

Stating that he was shocked on hearing the police report lodged by an aide of Anwar on Saturday night, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he would leave the police to conduct investigations on the allegations and to take the necessary action.

He said he or the Government did not instruct the police to take any action.

On Anwar's statement that the allegations were a complete fabrication to kill his political career, as in 1998 when he was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister, Abdullah said the Government had nothing to do with the police report.

"We are not (involved). Umno and Barisan Nasional did not plan to trouble, disturb or accuse him.

"I believe even my friends like (Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib (Tun Razak) did not have any intention to do such a thing to him," he told reporters here on Sunday after launching the Bumi Hijau programme.

Abdullah said the alleged victim has the right to lodge a police report if it had really happened.

When asked if Anwar would be arrested following the latest allegation, Abdullah said he did not want to speculate on the matter and would leave the matter to the police.

Meanwhile the aide, who had started working at PKR about three months ago to help in the 12th general election, had lodged a police report alleging sodomy by the PKR leader at about 5.45pm on Saturday.

The man, in his 20s, is being treated at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

Anwar called for an urgent press conference at 1.20am Sunday morning to deny the allegations.

In a statement read out by PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah at a hotel in Shah Alam, he described the allegations as “total fabrication”.

The statement, which was also faxed to media offices, said: “The police report lodged against me today is a complete fabrication. I believe we are witnessing a repeat of the methods used against me in 1998 when false allegations were made under duress.”

Sources said police were waiting for the medical report from the hospital before proceeding with investigations.

They also said Anwar was expected to be called up by the police to have his statement recorded.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang posted in his blog early Sunday morning that he had spoken to Anwar over the phone and "he is expecting the worst."

"SMS and phone calls have been flying around of imminent police action against Anwar Ibrahim.

"I have spoken to Anwar over the phone and he is expecting the worst," Lim said.

Sodomy allegation

Anwar and his adopted brother Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja were found guilty by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Aug 8, 2000 on the charge of sodomising Anwar's former family driver, Azizan Abu Bakar, at Sukma's apartment in Tivoli Villa, Bangsar, between January and March 1993.

Anwar was sentenced to nine years' jail while Sukma received six years and ordered to be given four strokes of the rotan. Sukma was also convicted by the High Court on a charge of abetting Anwar in the commission of the offence.

In 2003, the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals.

Anwar was first convicted for corruption on April 14, 1999 and was jailed for six years.

He should have been released on April 14, 2003 after a one-third remission but had to start serving his sentence for the sodomy offence, which the court ordered to be served consecutively.

Anwar was freed in 2004 after the Federal Court acquitted him of the charge of sodomising his former family driver.

The three-person Federal Court bench reached a 2-1 majority decision when they allowed the former deputy prime minister's appeal and overturned the conviction and nine-year jail term six years after his sacking as deputy prime minister.

The panel headed by Federal Court judge Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad also allowed Sukma’s appeal.

Court of Appeal judge Tengku Baharuddin Shah Tengku Mahmud concurred with Justice Abdul Hamid while Federal Court judge Justice Rahmah Hussain dissented.

Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad held that from the record of appeal, he found evidence that the appellants were involved in homosexual activities and was inclined to believe that the alleged incident at Tivoli Villa did occur.

However, he said the Federal Court could only convict Anwar and Sukma if the prosecution had successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt the alleged offences stated in the charges based on admissible evidence and in accordance with established principles of law.

"We may be convinced in our minds of the guilt or innocence of the appellants but our decision must only be based on the evidence adduced and nothing else," he said.