Anwar tapes ‘off limits’

By : V. Shuman, New Straits TImes Online

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have no plans to release closed-circuit television footage of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim taken while he was in detention at the city police headquarters.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the taping was part of the police investigation into the sodomy report against Anwar.

A news website had on Thursday reported that police were considering releasing the footage to the public in the next 48 hours.

Yesterday, R. Sivarasa, one of Anwar’s counsel, questioned the reason to record his client’s movements round the clock while he was in custody.

“From the moment Anwar entered the city police headquarters building, several policemen, armed with video cameras, started recording him and followed him around like he was a hardened criminal.

“Even when he was inside the lock-up, they taped him, although there were already CCTVs inside,” Sivarasa said.

“They only stopped recording when my client asked them to during prayers.”

He added that as soon as Anwar got out of his cell the next morning, forensic personnel combed it to gather hair samples and dead skin cells.

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Respect laws of Malaysia when talking about Anwar, foreigners told

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia hopes that other countries, in commenting on allegations of sodomy against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, will respect Malaysia’s sovereignty as a country with its own set of laws.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Malaysian Government would always act in accordance with the country’s laws.

He was responding to recent statements by US leaders and international personalities criticising Malaysia for arresting Anwar on July 16, after attending the National Academic Awards 2007 event yesterday.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Malaysia to be transparent and follow the rule of law in dealing with the sodomy accusation against Anwar.

Rejecting Malaysia’s claim that the Anwar case was an internal affair, she also said the United States would continue to speak about cases that it “thinks needs to be thought about in terms of the political circumstances.”

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Commentary from the Wall Street Journal: It’s Déjà Vu for Malaysia’s Opposition Leader

By MARY KISSEL
July 26, 2008

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

“I was dumped into this high-security police lockup for, you see, these high-level criminals. . . . On the cement floor, without any mattresses. That explains why I have to be back on this.” Anwar Ibrahim gingerly peels up his shirt to reveal a corset-like back brace. And then he bursts into laughter.

Ismael Roldan

For a man released from a night in jail only a few days earlier, Mr. Anwar is an awfully jolly man. Malaysia’s opposition leader has been accused of sodomy by a former aide — a criminal offense in this Muslim-majority country that could send him to jail for up to two decades. It’s a bizarre déjà vu for the bespectacled politician, who spent 1998-2004 behind bars on a trumped-up sodomy charge the last time he challenged for political power.

But he’s pushing ahead: On Wednesday, Mr. Anwar vowed to run for parliament “imminently” in a by-election, with the aim of toppling the government by September. If he’s successful, he could be the next prime minister of Malaysia.

None of this would matter much outside Southeast Asia were it not for the fact that Mr. Anwar’s political coalition espouses something unusual in the Muslim world: the virtues of a secular, free-market democracy. More Muslims live in Asia — Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh — than in the Middle East.

Mr. Anwar is unusually suited to bridge East-West divides. A Muslim, “though never typically very religious,” he chuckles, he is a good friend of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. alike — a man who memorized “hundreds of Elvis Presley, Paul Anka and Ricky Nelson tunes” in his youth, but also attended weekend religious classes and, in his 20s, founded the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia. He has never been afraid to argue that democracy and Islam are compatible forces — or to make that case to undemocratic Arab regimes.

In many ways, Malaysia — though it sports big urban centers and modern wonders like the Petronas Towers — seems stuck in a time warp. The media is largely state-controlled, and the executive branch still locks up political dissidents without trial under the British colonial-era Internal Security Act. [More]

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Anwar to announce seat in August

By DHARMENDER SINGH

SHAH ALAM: PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said that he will announce the parliamentary seat where he will contest in another week or two.

He said he would like to see how many millions the Barisan Nasional will spend to fight the by-election and ensure he does not win.

He said, however, he was confident of the people’s support as they now were aware of the failure of the Barisan government in looking after their welfare, following the fuel and goods price hike.

He was speaking at a ceramah at the Jugra Stadium in Banting on Friday.

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Malaysian Ruling Party Vows to Pursue Legal Action Against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim

By Ron Corben
Bangkok
25 July 2008

Malaysia’s governing United Malaya National Organization, UMNO, is pressing on with legal action against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who faces allegations of sexual abuse. Anwar has vowed to move ahead with plans to lead the Malaysian government by September despite the charges. Ron Corben has more in this report from Bangkok.

Malaysia’s Home Minister, Hamid Syed Albar, told a gathering of 90 diplomats at a briefing this week in Kuala Lumpur that he would be providing foreign missions with what he termed “the real story” about allegations of sodomy against opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar has rejected the allegations raised in June by a 23-year old aide, Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, saying it is a conspiracy to prevent him from challenging the current coalition government led by the United Malays National Organization, UMNO, in power since 1957.

The allegations came exactly two months after Anwar returned to Parliament following a ten year absence.

In 1998, Anwar had been deputy prime minister under Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister, Mahathir Mohammad, and considered the anointed successor when he challenged Mr. Mahathir to step aside.

Instead, Anwar was fired as deputy prime minister and faced charges of corruption and sexual abuse. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but eventually served just six years in jail for corruption charges.

In 2004, Malaysia’s Federal Court overturned a sodomy conviction pointing to weaknesses in the prosecution’s case.

But in June, new charges of sodomy resurfaced.

In early July, Anwar maintained he would press on with the bid to seize power from what he had termed, “a corrupt government”. He added he would fight the allegations “day and night” saying the young man accusing him was “being manipulated by powerful forces”.

On July 16, Anwar was arrested at his home, an hour before a deadline for him to appear at the police headquarters. He was held in jail overnight.

Professor Carl Thayer, a regional security analyst at the Australian National University, says the allegations appear to be part of a struggle by the ruling party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) to fend off the threat from Anwar and his supporters. “The core elite that gathered in the UMNO – the United Malays National Organization – have been absolutely ruthless under various prime ministers, particularly (Dr) Mahathir (Mohammad) in making sure that their supremacy is maintained. And although (Prime Minister) Badawi was seen as less harsh, what this is demonstrating is that some of his colleagues are playing a vicious game,” he said.

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