KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim went on the offensive Tuesday over sodomy accusations, filing a complaint against the police chief and attorney-general, and planning a public rally.
Anwar, a former deputy premier who spent six years in prison on sodomy and corruption counts before a stunning return to politics in elections in March, says the new allegations are designed to prevent him from taking power.
After a dramatic interlude holed up in the Turkish embassy, where he took refuge at the weekend saying his life was in danger, Anwar came out swinging at the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Saiful Izham Ramli, a member of the policy board of Anwar's Keadilan party, which leads a three-member opposition alliance, said there would be a campaign including a rally on Tuesday night.
"We are now going on an offensive," he told AFP. "Now we have a game plan."
Prime Minister Abdullah's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) helms a national coalition that has ruled the country since the former British colony won independence after World War II.
But Anwar's opposition alliance made a surprisingly strong showing in March, grabbing one-third of the seats in parliament and undermining the coalition's long-time hold on power in this nation of 25 million.
After the expiry of a ban on public office related to his earlier conviction, Anwar said he was poised to enter parliament in a by-election when the government concocted the latest allegations by a 23-year-old male aide.
Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 in the midst of the Asian financial crisis which heightened his power struggle with then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Shortly after, he was charged with sodomy and corruption, and appeared in court with a black eye after a beating from the police chief.
As part of his current fight back, and accompanied by 50 supporters who scuffled with police, Anwar filed a complaint Tuesday at a police station over that beating a decade ago.
It alleged that the current police chief, who was then the investigating officer, and the attorney-general, who was then the prosecutor, falsified the investigation into the assault by police chief Abdul Rahim Noor.
Anwar spent six years in jail until the nation's highest court overturned the sex conviction, and he emerged in poor health and spent several years recuperating and working as an academic.
Now the 60-year-old has been staging a political comeback, looking to win a parliamentary seat in the by-election and gather enough defectors from the ruling coalition to be able to take over as prime minister.
Analysts say the new sodomy allegations could hurt the prime minister and actually help Anwar, a charismatic figure whose colourful political career has nevertheless long been accompanied by the tinge of scandal.
"A large number of people do not believe the allegations, and this whole episode may have benefited Anwar more than it has damaged his reputation," said Ibrahim Suffian, a pollster from the Merdeka Centre.
The United States said Monday it would oppose any politically motivated investigation or prosecution of Anwar and that it hoped there was no "pattern" in the new accusations against him.
"The main point for us is that the rule of law needs to stand above politics," said US State Department spokesman Tom Casey. - AFP/ir
Channel NewsAsia
01/07/08
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