馬來西亞反對黨領袖安華被控雞姦遭調查 - 馬來西亞

Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar once again accused of sodomy amid
political tension

The Associated Press
Saturday, June 28, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was
accused Saturday of sodomy, police and politicians said, sparking speculation
that he might be arrested on the same charge that led to his imprisonment a
decade ago.

Anwar, who resurrected his political career after leading the opposition to
spectacular gains in recent elections, denied the allegation, which he said
was made in a police complaint filed by the 23-year-old aide.

"The police report lodged against me earlier today is a complete
fabrication," Anwar, 60, said in a written statement.

He contented the report was engineered by "interested parties" to prevent
him from exposing the national police chief and the attorney general for
their alleged role in having him accused of corruption and sodomy in 1998.

Anwar 霠a former deputy prime minister 霠was ousted from government 10 years
ago amid those accusations. He was convicted on both charges, but Malaysia's
highest court overturned the sodomy conviction and freed him in 2004.

Anwar said in the statement that he "recently obtained" evidence implicating
Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan and Attorney General Gani Patail of
misconduct and fabricating evidence against him in 1998. He said he will
release the evidence soon.

"I believe we are witnessing a repeat of the methods used against me in 1998
when false allegations were made under duress," Anwar said in a statement.

The dramatic developments that began to unfold a little before midnight will
have a severe impact on Malaysian politics, which have been thrown into
turmoil since the March 8 elections in which the governing National Front
coalition returned its worst-ever result.

The Front lost its traditional two-thirds parliamentary majority, returning
to power with only a simple majority, and ceded control of five of Malaysia's
13 states to Anwar's three-party opposition alliance.

Anwar has since claimed he has secured tacit agreements from at least 30
National Front lawmakers to defect to the opposition 霠enough to topple Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration.

Anwar claimed the sodomy report was aimed at stopping the resurgent
opposition from gaining ground.

"This is clearly a desperate attempt by the ... regime to arrest the
movement of the Malaysian people towards freedom, democracy and justice," he
said.

Kuala Lumpur's police chief for criminal investigations, Ku Chin Wah, said a
man filed a police complaint late Saturday claiming that Anwar sodomized him.

"We are investigating the complaint," Ku told The Associated Press.

Sodomy, even if consensual, is punishable by 20 years' imprisonment in
Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Ku said police have no immediate plans to arrest Anwar, despite a cell phone
text message sent by Anwar's People's Justice Party warning that he would be
detained this weekend.

Ku declined to identify the man who lodged the complaint, but the People's
Justice Party identified him as Anwar's assistant, who started working for
him in March.

The party said it believed the aide was coerced into making the accusation.

"He (the aide) is a victim," said Sivarasa Rasiah, a top party official. The
aide went missing Saturday morning, and his whereabouts remain unknown,
Sivarasa said.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fired Anwar from the Cabinet in 1998
amid accusations that he sodomized his family driver and abused his power to
cover up the deed. Anwar insisted he was victimized by a political conspiracy
to prevent him from challenging Mahathir for power.

Anwar did not personally run in the March elections because his corruption
conviction barred him from holding political office for five years. The ban
ended in April, and Anwar has since indicated he wants to re-enter Parliament
through a by-election, which would make him eligible to become prime
minister.

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