Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; July 17, 2008
On Saturday, 12-07-2008, the police came to my house to serve a Section 111 Criminal Procedure Code notice, harassing my family and demanding my presence at the IPK Kuala Lumpur (Federal Territories Police headquarters) at 2pm on Monday, 14-07-2008 despite an earlier agreement with my lawyers for me to come to the IPK on Monday 14-07-2008. On the next day, Sunday, the police also served an ex-parte court order, prohibiting me from physically being within 5 km from the Parliament on Monday 14-07-2008. As you can see, my house and the IPK KL are within 5 km radius from the parliament building. The court order effectively put me under house arrest on Monday and at the same time prevented me from going to the IPK.
On Monday, 14-07-2008, the presence of police personnel outside the compound of my house strengthened our suspicions that they would be prepared to arrest me as soon as I left the compound of my residence, on the pretext of me violating the court order. The issue here, is which order should I comply with, the ex-parte court order or the Section 111 notice from the police?
On the same day, the police through the Investigating Officer, one DSP Jude Pereira wrote and faxed to my lawyer at about 1.06pm, informing that I was required to be present at the IPK KL on Wednesday, 16-07-2008 at 2.00 pm to assist with the investigation. I conveyed my agreement to the appointment and it was communicated to the police through my solicitor, Messrs S.N Nair and Partners via telephone and letter on the same day.
On Wednesday, 16-07-2008, I was at the Anti Corruption Agency (BPR) head office to record my statement pursuant to the police report lodged by me at IPK Shah Alam on 01-07-2008, against the Attorney General Gani Patail and the Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan for their involvement in the fabrication of evidence way back in 1998. To ensure that we will be able to attend the appointment with the police at 2pm, we cut short our statement at the BPR’s office, and this fact was clearly conveyed to the BPR officers present.
At about 12.45 pm, the IO, DSP Jude Pereira called Mr Nair to confirm about our attendance and Mr. Nair confirmed that we would attend that 2pm appointment. We were about to have a quick lunch at my house before proceeding to the IPK. 5 minutes later, we were ambushed by a team of masked and heavily armed police personnel near my house.
I was arrested and brought to the IPK. I cooperated fully with the police by giving my cautioned statement from 2.30 pm to about 7.30 pm. At this particular point, the IO and the other officers handling this case were doing their job professionally. I was then given assurances by Assistant Commissioner of Police Razali and later Senior Assistant Commissioner II Khor (through my lawyer) that I would be released on police bail on the same day.
However, later on, upon my return from Kuala Lumpur General Hospotal (HKL), the IO, DSP Jude Pereira informed me and my lawyers that I will be detained and put in the police lock-up overnight for the purpose of recording a further statement in the morning.
I and my lawyers protested, giving our undertaking that we will be back anytime required by the police to continue with the recording of the statement, and there was no need for me to be detained overnight, and that I should be released on police bail. The police, through the IO were adamant that I should be detained and put in the police lock-up overnight, despite them knowing about my physical condition. I had to spend the night sleeping on a cold cement floor, which aggravated my back injury which was due to the beating I received from the then IGP, Tan Sri Rahim Nor on 20th September, 1998.
This morning, after a short statement that was recorded for about 30 minutes, I was released on police bail. I was in pain and had to immediately receive some medical treatment upon my return home.
I now wish to deal with the statement of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director, Dato Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin as appeared in Utusan Malaysia today, inter alia
“Pasukan khas bertopeng polis terpaksa memintas kenderaan DSAI di Bukit Segambut di sini dan menahan Anwar ekoran tindakan Penasihat PKR itu mengubah haluan kenderaannya pada saat-saat tempoh yang diberi kepadanya untuk menyerah diri kepada polis pada pukul 2 petang ini hampir berakhir”
This is a blatant lie from the CID director to cover up their shameful act of abuse of police powers. I have given the assurances and had just informed the IO 5 minutes before the disgraceful ambush by the police through my lawyer who was with me in the same car.
In addition to the above, the Deputy Home Minister, Wan Farid said, as reported in Star Online that, I “went voluntarily to the police car without any incident.” Again, this is also a blatant lie by the government.
I take to task the IGP for this abuse of police power against me through the events I’ve narrated above. It appears that the events of the last few days, the nature of my unwarranted arrest, my overnight incarceration which was actually absolutely unnecessary, were an act of personal vengeance against me in retaliation to the reports I lodged earlier against him, which are now being investigated by the ACA.
DNA
I have reasonable grounds for having no confidence in the system. In the course of the trial of the false allegations of sodomy in 1998, DNA evidence was fabricated and used against me. The persons responsible for the fabrication then were the IGP, SAC Rodwan and the AG, are new key players in this investigation.
Until now, I have been denied access to the police report made by the accuser against me.
My accuser is still under police protection and as such, any fabrication is possible if they take my DNA. My decision to refuse a DNA test is taken through advice of my lawyers and DNA experts, both local and overseas.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
Showing posts with label Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Show all posts
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Anwar Ibrahim released, but sodomy charges stand
MALAYSIA, Remanded in police custody for 24 hours, at the end of interrogation, judges released him on police bail. The opposition warns of a serious “democratic crises” in the country.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Anwar Ibrahim was provisionally released this morning, at 9.45 local time, and has left police headquarters. “Anwar has left the building – confirmed his lawyer – from a secondary exit he got into his wife’s car and has gone home”.
The former deputy prime minister, who is accused of sodomy by a collaborator, has already spent six years in prison; yesterday officers arrested him and took him from his home from prison. He was granted a provisional release this morning, but will have to face charges on August 18th, and is on police bail should further charges be laid. A police official explained “there is no intention to remand him further. Statements were taken and we will have to decide on next course of action”.
Even if he was detained less than 24 hours, Anwar Ibrahim’s latest arrest has sparked contention across the country: according to Tian Chua, information officer for the People’s Justice Party (the party founded by the opposition leader, ed), this arrest served to “set the stage for a political showdown between the Government and Anwar” and she believes the allegations are a conspiracy “to prevent him and the Opposition from seizing power”. Police have been mobilised on the streets and have had joint exercises with the military, a “serious and meaningful” fact according to the opposition: “all these are signs towards a closing up of the democratic space” concludes Tian Chua.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Anwar Ibrahim was provisionally released this morning, at 9.45 local time, and has left police headquarters. “Anwar has left the building – confirmed his lawyer – from a secondary exit he got into his wife’s car and has gone home”.
The former deputy prime minister, who is accused of sodomy by a collaborator, has already spent six years in prison; yesterday officers arrested him and took him from his home from prison. He was granted a provisional release this morning, but will have to face charges on August 18th, and is on police bail should further charges be laid. A police official explained “there is no intention to remand him further. Statements were taken and we will have to decide on next course of action”.
Even if he was detained less than 24 hours, Anwar Ibrahim’s latest arrest has sparked contention across the country: according to Tian Chua, information officer for the People’s Justice Party (the party founded by the opposition leader, ed), this arrest served to “set the stage for a political showdown between the Government and Anwar” and she believes the allegations are a conspiracy “to prevent him and the Opposition from seizing power”. Police have been mobilised on the streets and have had joint exercises with the military, a “serious and meaningful” fact according to the opposition: “all these are signs towards a closing up of the democratic space” concludes Tian Chua.
Malaysian opposition leader arrested: an act of political desperation
By John Roberts
17 July 2008
Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author
In what is a sign of political desperation on the part of the Malaysian government, police yesterday arrested leading opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim, subjected him to three hours of interrogation, and detained him overnight. The arrest over trumped-up charges of sodomy and its timing are aimed at politically undermining Anwar and the opposition right at the point when the government confronts potential splits in its own ranks and motions of no confidence in parliament.
The manner in which the arrest was carried out was highly provocative. More than a dozen police, including commandos in balaclavas, blocked off the street outside Anwar’s home, dragged him from his car and took him off to police headquarters. According to his lawyer Sankara Nair, police gave no reason for the arrest. Nair also pointed out that Anwar had already agreed to present himself to the police for questioning at 2 p.m. The arrest took place an hour earlier, at 1 p.m.
The arrest was a virtual re-run of Anwar’s arrest in 1998 when, amid mounting opposition protests against the government, he was detained, assaulted by the country’s police chief and then tried and convicted on bogus charges of corruption and sodomy. The Malaysian Federal Court eventually overturned the sodomy charge in 2004, acknowledging the original conviction was based on “unreliable” evidence.
A decade later, Anwar again finds himself facing accusations of sodomy by a former aide, Mohammed Saiful Bukhari Azian. Anwar has insisted that the allegations are malicious fabrications designed to sabotage the opposition campaign and prevent his entry to parliament via a by-election. He had been banned from parliament until this year as a result of his corruption conviction. Senior officials of his Peoples Justice Party (Keadilan) allege that Saiful was planted by the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) and claim to have pictures showing him with leading government figures.
Anwar’s wife Wan Seri Azzizah Wan, who is currently Keadilan parliamentary leader, yesterday expressed concern that Anwar would suffer a repeat of the 1998 assault that left him with a serious back injury. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday offered a guarantee that Anwar would be safe in custody. Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar blandly declared that the police were acting according to the law and that the arrest was not politically motivated. However, no credence can be placed in these claims. As home minister in 1998, Abdullah was intimately involved in the campaign by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to politically destroy Anwar.
Yesterday afternoon 600 of Anwar’s supporters gathered outside police headquarters soon after the arrest, with 200 staying on for a candlelight vigil before being dispersed by police using water cannon. Husin Ali, an official with the opposition coalition Peoples Front (PKR), denounced the arrest as part of a political conspiracy and said that the aim of detaining Anwar was to fabricate evidence. “I don’t believe the police have any concrete evidence... so they arrest him, to force or collect evidence. The police want to know where exactly he was on that day (when the sodomy was alleged) so that they can make a charge.”
Anwar’s lawyer R. Sivarasa also raised questions about police attempts to take a DNA sample from Anwar. While the docile local media carried articles highlighting Anwar’s refusal to provide a sample, Sivarasa noted that the police already had Anwar’s DNA profile from the 1998 case. The police and the government are yet to explain what additional testing is required. Sivarasa protested the failure of the police to abide by their promise to release Anwar after his interrogation.
Mounting political crisis
The arrest comes amid a mounting crisis for the government. In March, the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) suffered a serious election setback, winning only 140 seats in the 222-seat parliament and losing its crucial two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution. The opposition parties—Keadilan, the Islamist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) and the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) increased their parliamentary numbers from 19 to 82. The vote not only undermined UMNO’s hold on parliament but cut across the racially based electoral divide fostered by UMNO over decades.
The opposition parties gained power in five of the country’s 13 states, including several of the most economically important. Rising prices for food and fuel have continued to undermine the government’s popularity. Bitter recriminations inside UMNO have fuelled a campaign led by former Prime Minister Mahathir to force Abdullah to step aside. The prime minister has now been forced to set 2010 as the date for leaving office, but a move to oust him far sooner cannot be ruled out.
Abdullah’s favoured successor, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, is embroiled in a serious scandal of his own involving the murder in October 2006 of a Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibu. Najib’s political adviser Abdul Razak Baginda and two bodyguards are on trial for the killing.
The drawn-out trial had been conducted in such a way to keep out Najib’s name. But he was directly linked to the case when a private detective Balasubramaniam Perumal claimed that Najib had had a sexual relationship with the victim. Najib has denied the allegation and that he had tried to cover up the connection. The private investigator subsequently retracted the allegation but then disappeared this month along with his entire family in unexplained circumstances.
Amid growing signs of splits within the government, Anwar, who is recognised as de facto opposition leader despite lacking a parliamentary seat, went on the offensive. He announced last month that the opposition had enough support inside the ruling BN coalition to form its own government and even set a date—September 16.
On July 6, 20,000 people defied police intimidation and attended an opposition rally in Kuala Lumpur to protest the government’s fuel price increases and to listen to Anwar’s plans to form a new government. Anwar used the opportunity to denounce the accusations against him. The opposition leader has said he will not only fight any charges in court but instigate legal proceedings of his own to expose his accuser and the involvement of government figures.
On Monday, police took the extraordinary measure of obtaining a court order to prevent Anwar or anyone else from approaching any closer than five kilometres from the parliament building. The opposition had planned a protest outside parliament to coincide with a move by its parliamentarians to debate a “crisis of confidence in the government”. Police mobilised an estimated 1,600 officers to block some 2,000 protestors who were expected to turn up. Inside parliament, the speaker ruled the debate out of order.
On Tuesday, Anwar debated Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek on national television over the government’s widely resented 41 percent oil price hike. He once again reaffirmed the opposition’s intention to wrest control of the parliament from the BN.
Earlier yesterday, Anwar went to the offices of the Anti-Corruption Agency where he made a statement alleging that Inspector General of Police Musa Hasan and Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail had been involved in fabricating evidence in the 1998 cases against him. The obvious danger for Prime Minister Abdullah was that he might also have been eventually implicated.
Anwar’s arrest is likely to spur on opposition to the government. A recent survey conducted by the Malaysiakini web site found that 94.4 percent believed the sodomy allegations against Anwar were politically motivated. Another by the Merdeka Centre found that 60 percent thought the charges were politically motivated and only six percent believed the allegations were true.
Behind the political tensions, there are also bitter unresolved differences in the country’s ruling elite over the direction of economic policy, which first erupted during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. Anwar, who was then deputy prime minister and finance minister, strongly advocated free market policies based on the IMF and World Bank prescriptions to open up Malaysia to foreign capital. Prime Minister Mahathir, who feared that UMNO’s business cronies would be bankrupted, dismissed Anwar, expelled him and his supporters from the party and instituted currency and capital controls.
It is not surprising that a new political crisis has erupted amid growing signs of fragility in the Malaysian economy. Anwar is backed by layers of business who are critical of Abdullah for failing to ditch Mahathir’s policies fast enough and embrace free market policies. Inside UMNO, Abdullah is under fire from Mahathir and his supporters for going too far and threatening Malay business entrepreneurs.
Fighting for its political life, the government is once again resorting to the police-state measures that it has used repeatedly during its 50-year rule to suppress any political opposition. Amid the current global economic turmoil, it is unlikely that the old methods will work for long. The Financial Times noted that the Malaysian ringgit immediately weakened after Anwar’s arrest and the KLSE share index was down 23 percent for the year. Far from resolving the current crisis, the arrest of Anwar is likely to spur it on.
See Also:
Malaysian opposition leader threatened with spurious new charges
[1 July 2008]
Malaysia's ruling coalition rattled after election debacle
[13 May 2008]
17 July 2008
Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author
In what is a sign of political desperation on the part of the Malaysian government, police yesterday arrested leading opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim, subjected him to three hours of interrogation, and detained him overnight. The arrest over trumped-up charges of sodomy and its timing are aimed at politically undermining Anwar and the opposition right at the point when the government confronts potential splits in its own ranks and motions of no confidence in parliament.
The manner in which the arrest was carried out was highly provocative. More than a dozen police, including commandos in balaclavas, blocked off the street outside Anwar’s home, dragged him from his car and took him off to police headquarters. According to his lawyer Sankara Nair, police gave no reason for the arrest. Nair also pointed out that Anwar had already agreed to present himself to the police for questioning at 2 p.m. The arrest took place an hour earlier, at 1 p.m.
The arrest was a virtual re-run of Anwar’s arrest in 1998 when, amid mounting opposition protests against the government, he was detained, assaulted by the country’s police chief and then tried and convicted on bogus charges of corruption and sodomy. The Malaysian Federal Court eventually overturned the sodomy charge in 2004, acknowledging the original conviction was based on “unreliable” evidence.
A decade later, Anwar again finds himself facing accusations of sodomy by a former aide, Mohammed Saiful Bukhari Azian. Anwar has insisted that the allegations are malicious fabrications designed to sabotage the opposition campaign and prevent his entry to parliament via a by-election. He had been banned from parliament until this year as a result of his corruption conviction. Senior officials of his Peoples Justice Party (Keadilan) allege that Saiful was planted by the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) and claim to have pictures showing him with leading government figures.
Anwar’s wife Wan Seri Azzizah Wan, who is currently Keadilan parliamentary leader, yesterday expressed concern that Anwar would suffer a repeat of the 1998 assault that left him with a serious back injury. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday offered a guarantee that Anwar would be safe in custody. Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar blandly declared that the police were acting according to the law and that the arrest was not politically motivated. However, no credence can be placed in these claims. As home minister in 1998, Abdullah was intimately involved in the campaign by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to politically destroy Anwar.
Yesterday afternoon 600 of Anwar’s supporters gathered outside police headquarters soon after the arrest, with 200 staying on for a candlelight vigil before being dispersed by police using water cannon. Husin Ali, an official with the opposition coalition Peoples Front (PKR), denounced the arrest as part of a political conspiracy and said that the aim of detaining Anwar was to fabricate evidence. “I don’t believe the police have any concrete evidence... so they arrest him, to force or collect evidence. The police want to know where exactly he was on that day (when the sodomy was alleged) so that they can make a charge.”
Anwar’s lawyer R. Sivarasa also raised questions about police attempts to take a DNA sample from Anwar. While the docile local media carried articles highlighting Anwar’s refusal to provide a sample, Sivarasa noted that the police already had Anwar’s DNA profile from the 1998 case. The police and the government are yet to explain what additional testing is required. Sivarasa protested the failure of the police to abide by their promise to release Anwar after his interrogation.
Mounting political crisis
The arrest comes amid a mounting crisis for the government. In March, the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) suffered a serious election setback, winning only 140 seats in the 222-seat parliament and losing its crucial two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution. The opposition parties—Keadilan, the Islamist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) and the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) increased their parliamentary numbers from 19 to 82. The vote not only undermined UMNO’s hold on parliament but cut across the racially based electoral divide fostered by UMNO over decades.
The opposition parties gained power in five of the country’s 13 states, including several of the most economically important. Rising prices for food and fuel have continued to undermine the government’s popularity. Bitter recriminations inside UMNO have fuelled a campaign led by former Prime Minister Mahathir to force Abdullah to step aside. The prime minister has now been forced to set 2010 as the date for leaving office, but a move to oust him far sooner cannot be ruled out.
Abdullah’s favoured successor, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, is embroiled in a serious scandal of his own involving the murder in October 2006 of a Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibu. Najib’s political adviser Abdul Razak Baginda and two bodyguards are on trial for the killing.
The drawn-out trial had been conducted in such a way to keep out Najib’s name. But he was directly linked to the case when a private detective Balasubramaniam Perumal claimed that Najib had had a sexual relationship with the victim. Najib has denied the allegation and that he had tried to cover up the connection. The private investigator subsequently retracted the allegation but then disappeared this month along with his entire family in unexplained circumstances.
Amid growing signs of splits within the government, Anwar, who is recognised as de facto opposition leader despite lacking a parliamentary seat, went on the offensive. He announced last month that the opposition had enough support inside the ruling BN coalition to form its own government and even set a date—September 16.
On July 6, 20,000 people defied police intimidation and attended an opposition rally in Kuala Lumpur to protest the government’s fuel price increases and to listen to Anwar’s plans to form a new government. Anwar used the opportunity to denounce the accusations against him. The opposition leader has said he will not only fight any charges in court but instigate legal proceedings of his own to expose his accuser and the involvement of government figures.
On Monday, police took the extraordinary measure of obtaining a court order to prevent Anwar or anyone else from approaching any closer than five kilometres from the parliament building. The opposition had planned a protest outside parliament to coincide with a move by its parliamentarians to debate a “crisis of confidence in the government”. Police mobilised an estimated 1,600 officers to block some 2,000 protestors who were expected to turn up. Inside parliament, the speaker ruled the debate out of order.
On Tuesday, Anwar debated Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek on national television over the government’s widely resented 41 percent oil price hike. He once again reaffirmed the opposition’s intention to wrest control of the parliament from the BN.
Earlier yesterday, Anwar went to the offices of the Anti-Corruption Agency where he made a statement alleging that Inspector General of Police Musa Hasan and Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail had been involved in fabricating evidence in the 1998 cases against him. The obvious danger for Prime Minister Abdullah was that he might also have been eventually implicated.
Anwar’s arrest is likely to spur on opposition to the government. A recent survey conducted by the Malaysiakini web site found that 94.4 percent believed the sodomy allegations against Anwar were politically motivated. Another by the Merdeka Centre found that 60 percent thought the charges were politically motivated and only six percent believed the allegations were true.
Behind the political tensions, there are also bitter unresolved differences in the country’s ruling elite over the direction of economic policy, which first erupted during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. Anwar, who was then deputy prime minister and finance minister, strongly advocated free market policies based on the IMF and World Bank prescriptions to open up Malaysia to foreign capital. Prime Minister Mahathir, who feared that UMNO’s business cronies would be bankrupted, dismissed Anwar, expelled him and his supporters from the party and instituted currency and capital controls.
It is not surprising that a new political crisis has erupted amid growing signs of fragility in the Malaysian economy. Anwar is backed by layers of business who are critical of Abdullah for failing to ditch Mahathir’s policies fast enough and embrace free market policies. Inside UMNO, Abdullah is under fire from Mahathir and his supporters for going too far and threatening Malay business entrepreneurs.
Fighting for its political life, the government is once again resorting to the police-state measures that it has used repeatedly during its 50-year rule to suppress any political opposition. Amid the current global economic turmoil, it is unlikely that the old methods will work for long. The Financial Times noted that the Malaysian ringgit immediately weakened after Anwar’s arrest and the KLSE share index was down 23 percent for the year. Far from resolving the current crisis, the arrest of Anwar is likely to spur it on.
See Also:
Malaysian opposition leader threatened with spurious new charges
[1 July 2008]
Malaysia's ruling coalition rattled after election debacle
[13 May 2008]
POLITICAL MURDER IN MALAYSIA
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, head of the Malaysian opposition party PKR, will apparently be released on bail following his arrest on charges of sodomizing a former aide. In Malaysia, the "crime" of sodomy--with or without consent--is punished by five to twenty years in prison, plus whipping.
When the charges first surfaced, on June 30, Anwar took refuge in the Turkish embassy, his wife describing the sodomy allegations as "political murder." "Not again," Anwar told reporters from inside the embassy. "It's a repeat of the same script." Anwar previously spent six years in prison on falsified sodomy charges filed in 1998, after Anwar broke with his mentor, then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, claiming the latter had responded poorly to the Asian financial crisis of 1997, wallowing in an orgy of corruption and cronyism. Anwar was ultimately acquitted and released.
Anwar left the Turkish embassy only after the government "guaranteed" his safety. The government also assured Anwar there would be "no repeat" of the events of 1998, when Anwar was brutally beaten, while shackled and blindfolded, by Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor. When the government suddenly announced on Wednesday that a warrant had been issued for Anwar's arrest, protestors poured into the streets, to be dispersed with water cannon. Anwar agreed to turn himself in, but was instead arrested outside his home after returning from filing a statement with an anti-corruption agency. The latest wisdom is that Anwar is to be released on bail "soon."
Meawhile, Mohamad's successor as Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has announced that he will step down in two years' time in favor of his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak. However, Malaysian private investigator P. Balasubramaniam on July 3 filed a declaration charging Najib with complicity in the murder of a woman who was the lover of one of Najib's policy ministers, Abdul Razak Baginda--and perhaps the lover of Najib himself. The woman was allegedly killed by two of Najib's wife's bodyguards after she appeared outside Abdul Razak's house in Kuala Lumpur, loudly demanding that she be "properly recompensed for his pleasure." Najib has vehemently denied allegations that he himself bounced the bedsprings with the dead woman, Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibi, and that she had been promised $500,000 to assist in securing the purchase of French submarines. On July 4, Balasubramaniam abruptly withdrew his allegations against Najib, and then he and his family promptly disappeared. The police now opine that Balasubramaniam and his family are "overseas."
Finally, several hours ago, blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, editor of the online publication Malaysia Today, was charged with "criminal defamation" for his June 18 declaration implicating Najib's wife in the murder of Altantuya. Raja Petra had previously been charged with sedition, for an April 25 Malaysia Today blog post titled "Let's Send The Altantuya Murderers To Hell." His website, http://www.malaysia-today.net, from which I have been drawing information for the past couple of hours, is no longer appearing on my computer.
blueness :: Political Murder
Malaysia is a Muslim country. On July 5, Mentari Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat cautioned that airing such unseemly charges as those against Anwar and Najib was contrary to the tenets of Islam.
Malay political leaders should not make allegations against each other in public as this is not condoned by Islam, [he] said.
He said allegations like sodomy and illicit sex degraded people and, therefore, were contrary to Islamic tenets . . .
"If there's proof [of the wrongdoing], take it to court. There's no need to make it public.
"Our religion does not approve of such allegations being made public, especially in the media, as it will be picked up by news agencies around the world," he said here yesterday.
"Malaysia seems to have lost its dignity[.]"
Nobody much seemed to be listening. In the following days, Anwar and his accuser in fact began using Islam in their attacks on one another. First Anwar's accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, on July 7 dared Anwar to swear on the Koran that Anwar did not sodomize him. Two days later, Anwar filed an official complaint with the Islamic Affairs Department charging that Saiful was guilty of qazaf--airing a false accusation that a person has committed adultery.
Meanwhile, this outfit, The New Straits Times Online, which seems to be functioning as sort of the New York Post of Malaysia, is breathlessly following events with as much vigor and detail as the Post devotes to, say, tracking the various animals, vegetables, and minerals that cycle in and out of Madonna's vagina.
Malaysia is a European colonial construct, one of the most absurd on earth. It combines former British colonies on the southernmost tip of the Thai peninsula with former British colonies on the northernmost region of the island of Kalimantan. In between lies hundreds of miles of the South China Sea.
While the people of the Thai peninsula can muster a good argument for being a nation--ethnic Malays, they became predominately Muslim beginning in the 16th Century, in contrast to the Buddhist Thais to the north--the forced conjoining with the animist Dayaks of northern Kalimantan is a sick joke. All that separates these Dayaks from the Dayaks of the rest of Kalimantan is a line on a piece of paper that marked a division of spoils between the Dutch and the English. Prior to European colonialism, the people of northern Kalimantan shared about as much in common with the Malays of the Thai peninsula as Koreans share with Swedes.
As England reluctantly relinquished its hold on what would become Malaysia, it pursued a vicious 12-year counterinsurgency that basically killed off everyone in the region with any leftist tendencies. This slaughter was considered in the West such a "success" that the United States attempted, disastrously, to import into its Vietnam fiasco such Malaysian "successes" as "strategic hamlets," "winning hearts and minds," and the murderous paramilitary paladins of the Phoenix Program. As the years have passed, the Malaysian "success" has appeared, even to the British, more dubious: as in Iran, decimating the left opened a vaccum that was filled by Islam.
In contrast to post-1979 Iran, however, Malaysia has rarely agitated the West.
The Wall Street Journal, ever with its eye on the interests of capital, describes, in the context of the Anwar story, Malaysia this way:
The allegations cap a tumultuous year so far in Malaysia, a resource-rich, majority-Muslim nation of 26 million that has long been one of the most politically stable and economically strong countries in Asia. The nation is among the U.S.'s top-15 trading partners and is a big exporter of palm oil--used in cooking oils and biofuels--natural gas and electronics components. Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. of the U.S. and Nokia Corp. of Finland are among the many Western companies that have big operations there.
Malaysia also compliantly provides tin, copper, and petroleum to Western transnationals, and on Kalimantan permits extensive deforestation--today primarily for the benefit of other Asian nations, like Japan--that, combined with logging operations across the border in Indonesia, have on several occasions over the past decade created forest fires of such vast magnitude they have blocked out the sun and thereby killed crops, halted air traffic for hundreds of miles around, and sickened with smoke and haze human beings and other living things in more than a dozen nations.
A piece from the Vancouver Sun aptly summarizes the genesis and timeline of the sex-soaked shenanigans that are currently roiling Malaysia.
There have been questions for several months over whether Abdullah's chosen successor, Najib, is fit to take over the leadership. At the heart of this question is a continuing court case over the murder of a Mongolian woman translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu, the mistress of one of Najib's policy advisers Abdul Razak Baginda . . .
These allegations were made by opposition leader Anwar last week, coupled with a demand that a full public inquiry be launched into Najib's involvement in the Shaariibuu affair.
Retribution was not long in coming. By mid-week allegations had been made by [] officials that Anwar had committed sodomy--illegal in Malaysia--with a member of his staff. Anwar dismissed the story as "pure lies" and said it was the same kind of fabrication that was used to discredit him in 1998.
Anwar had been Dr Mahathir's deputy and finance minister, but the two fell out over how to respond to the Asian economic crisis of 1997 . . . Dr Mahathir responded by backing trumped-up charges of sodomy and corruption against Anwar, who was convicted and sentenced to prison. It was only after Dr Mahathir resigned that a court in 2004 overturned the conviction as being without substance and freed Anwar.
But memories of betrayal and disloyalty are long in Malaysia and there remain many Dr Mahathir supporters passionately determined that Anwar will never be prime minister.
The Economist, while a conservative publication that worships at the altar of capital, generally keeps a close, if jaundiced, eye on those nations formerly forced into the British Empire. A recent Economist piece explains why it was important for the Malaysian government to again go after Anwar . . . and also why it may have misstepped:
Whatever the motive for the allegations against Mr Anwar, or for his against the government, he seems for the moment to have the political initiative. This is partly a tribute to his political skills; but another factor is the sympathy, or at least indifference, of the Malaysian public, which hoped it had heard the last of sodomy in public life. The term entered the Malaysian political lexicon in 1998, when Mr Anwar was accused of sodomy and of corruption during the tenure of the then prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, whom Mr Anwar served as deputy.
The sodomy accusation was widely believed to be politically motivated, and therefore untrue. The country found itself divided and appalled. But the nature of the alleged crime was scarcely an issue. What provoked outrage were the seemingly untrammelled powers of the prime minister, the dubious role of the judiciary and the blatant bias of the press . . .
Mr Anwar was freed from jail early in the tenure of Abdullah Badawi, Dr Mahathir's handpicked successor (and now, butt of his fierce criticism). For many this was a happy conclusion to a lurid episode, not necessarily out of any deep affection for Mr Anwar but because what was widely seen as an injustice had at last been corrected. Sodomy, it was hoped, could be forgotten. Mr Anwar was yesterday's man.
All that changed with the March 8th election. The [government party] suffered its worst-ever electoral result and Mr Anwar leapt back to the forefront of politics. The election could be read as a vote against [the government] rather than for Mr Anwar's disparate coalition. But he has since been portraying himself as prime minister in waiting. The sluggish pace of Malaysian politics has accelerated, and the momentum has been dictated largely by the opposition . . .
Since the elections Malaysians have shown that they can cope with rapid change but the recent events have come as a shock. The word "bewildered" litters the Malaysian blogosphere. Conspiracy theories swirl but government ministers have denied any link with the accuser. He himself is in hiding. His family deny he has the backing of the government. Mr Anwar and his supporters, however, have produced pictures of him with various people linked to the government, including an aide to Najib Razak, Mr Badawi's deputy and heir-apparent . . . In 1998 Mr Anwar's accusers failed to make the charges stick in the court of public opinion. That stands him in good stead as Malaysia hunkers down for an extended, unwanted, repeat performance.
From The Wall Street Journal, which also always keeps its eye on the capital prize:
The decades-long supremacy of the National Front coalition, dominated by the United Malays National Organization, received its greatest challenge in March when it suffered a drubbing in a national election. It still garnered just enough seats in the lower house of Parliament to stay in power, but it raised the prospect that Malaysia would become a model of peaceful democratic change in the Islamic world, and that the National Front could be ousted after ruling since Malaysian independence in 1957.
The country also has been racked by religious and ethnic tensions as it continues to pursue an economic policy that favors ethnic Malays. In November, ethnic Indians engaged in unprecedented protests over alleged discrimination, prompting a government clampdown. Accelerating inflation and rising fuel prices has added to the discontent among the nation's citizens.
Mr. Anwar's People's Justice Party, or Parti Keadilan Rakyat, won 82 seats along with a group of allies in the 222-seat lower house of Parliament in the March 8 vote. The alliance needs 30 more seats to replace the National Front coalition, and the charismatic Mr. Anwar has been trying to attract defectors from the ruling coalition in hopes of forcing a change in government. It would be unprecedented in Malaysian history for the opposition to take power through the parliamentary process.
Anwar himself explains why the government is again attempting to arrest his political momentum with a charge of sodomy: "[T]hey think this is the best [way] to cause anxiety and disgust among Muslims."
Which raises the same sort of question as Alexa asked here, in relation to the now-infamous New Yorker cover. In her diary, the question was: "is there something wrong with being Muslim?" Here, the question is: "is there something wrong with sodomy?"
Well, in this country, until 2003 sodomy, at least among persons of the same sex (as is the allegation over there in Malaysia), was in this country considered so wrong it was against the law. As has been noted of late over on our orange blog, we in this country may very soon be given an opportunity, in our own contest for chief executive, to decide just how wrong we consider same-sex sodomy. This is because John McCain is apparently considering as his running mate a man who is a same-sex-sodomy devotee. Though the vote will of course not be a truly free and open one, as this man has hastily taken a wife, in an effort to hide his love, a love that he feels still dare not speak its name.
The Bush administration has now expressed "serious concern" over Anwar's arrest. But as no one even in the United States listens to Bush anymore, his "concern" is unlikely to have any effect in Malaysia. Indeed, Malaysia had previously sent a note of protest complaining about US meddling in Malaysian affairs.
What will probably have more effect is this carefully worded "open letter" from a number of prominent Muslims, drawn from a galaxy of Muslim nations.
It reads, in part:
We are deeply concerned about the physical safety and freedom of our respected brother Datuk Seri Dr. Anwar Ibrahim. We are troubled by the unsubstantiated and clearly scurrilous claims made against him and his character . . .
Our beloved Malaysia is today one of the leading countries of the Muslim Ummah. It is an example of a successful modern Islamic country, and in many ways a model and example for other Muslim countries . . . Indeed, perhaps precisely because of Malaysia's prominence within the Ummah and the world, we would like to point out that the global Muslim community is paying close attention to the way our respected and honorable brother Dr. Anwar Ibrahim is treated. We have no wish to interfere in the internal politics of Malaysia, or in civil and criminal accusations within the country, which we reiterate are ultimately the business only of the Malaysian state and people. However, the spectacle, ten years ago, of our respected brother Datuk Seri Dr. Anwar Ibrahim sitting patiently in court after having been personally and illegally beaten up by then Police Chief of Malaysia is still fresh within our minds as a travesty of justice and impartiality under the law in a leading Muslim country. We are all still ashamed of that image, which will ever be indelibly engraved in our memories . . .
Thus we feel that we have a right--and indeed, an obligation under Islam--to strongly urge the Malaysian authorities to facilitate a swift, transparent and just resolution to this issue and resolutely ensure the safety, freedom and physical well-being of our honorable and respected brother Anwar Ibrahim . . .
Finally, we are morally obliged as Muslims to also point out that our religion and our beloved Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) regard false accusations in these matters to be of extremely grave consequence. In fact, under Islamic Law, accusations of this magnitude that are not substantiated by four eye-witnesses of impeccable character (such as did not occur neither with these accusations nor with the previous ones) incur severe legal punishment only for the accusers themselves . . .
However, we have complete trust in Allah and so remain hopeful that the highest political authorities in Malaysia will, in sha Allah, secure an honest and just outcome to this deeply troubling situation.
Meanwhile, I'm kinda concerned about this Raja Petra Kamaruddin blogger. Anwar, he has folks like the US government and a group of Islamic scholars looking out for him. Not so Raja Petra.
Here is the guy's wiki entry. Says he's a distant relation of the Malay royal family. Might seem like enough protection; still, you never know. Here is his blogger profile. Seems an impassioned, feisty guy: one of us. I liked what I found on his site--until it stopped appearing on my computer. Now I am happy to say that his site appears to be back up. Still, I think we should keep our eye on him. Judging both from news on the tubes and his wiki entry, he seems to be spending a lot of time of late in police stations. When Raja Petra goes into police custody on this latest warrant--hell, any time he goes into police custody--I want to make sure he comes back out. If he wasn't so eternally busy trying to make his own country safe for something like democracy, I'm sure he'd do the same for us.
by: blueness
When the charges first surfaced, on June 30, Anwar took refuge in the Turkish embassy, his wife describing the sodomy allegations as "political murder." "Not again," Anwar told reporters from inside the embassy. "It's a repeat of the same script." Anwar previously spent six years in prison on falsified sodomy charges filed in 1998, after Anwar broke with his mentor, then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, claiming the latter had responded poorly to the Asian financial crisis of 1997, wallowing in an orgy of corruption and cronyism. Anwar was ultimately acquitted and released.
Anwar left the Turkish embassy only after the government "guaranteed" his safety. The government also assured Anwar there would be "no repeat" of the events of 1998, when Anwar was brutally beaten, while shackled and blindfolded, by Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor. When the government suddenly announced on Wednesday that a warrant had been issued for Anwar's arrest, protestors poured into the streets, to be dispersed with water cannon. Anwar agreed to turn himself in, but was instead arrested outside his home after returning from filing a statement with an anti-corruption agency. The latest wisdom is that Anwar is to be released on bail "soon."
Meawhile, Mohamad's successor as Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has announced that he will step down in two years' time in favor of his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak. However, Malaysian private investigator P. Balasubramaniam on July 3 filed a declaration charging Najib with complicity in the murder of a woman who was the lover of one of Najib's policy ministers, Abdul Razak Baginda--and perhaps the lover of Najib himself. The woman was allegedly killed by two of Najib's wife's bodyguards after she appeared outside Abdul Razak's house in Kuala Lumpur, loudly demanding that she be "properly recompensed for his pleasure." Najib has vehemently denied allegations that he himself bounced the bedsprings with the dead woman, Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibi, and that she had been promised $500,000 to assist in securing the purchase of French submarines. On July 4, Balasubramaniam abruptly withdrew his allegations against Najib, and then he and his family promptly disappeared. The police now opine that Balasubramaniam and his family are "overseas."
Finally, several hours ago, blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, editor of the online publication Malaysia Today, was charged with "criminal defamation" for his June 18 declaration implicating Najib's wife in the murder of Altantuya. Raja Petra had previously been charged with sedition, for an April 25 Malaysia Today blog post titled "Let's Send The Altantuya Murderers To Hell." His website, http://www.malaysia-today.net, from which I have been drawing information for the past couple of hours, is no longer appearing on my computer.
blueness :: Political Murder
Malaysia is a Muslim country. On July 5, Mentari Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat cautioned that airing such unseemly charges as those against Anwar and Najib was contrary to the tenets of Islam.
Malay political leaders should not make allegations against each other in public as this is not condoned by Islam, [he] said.
He said allegations like sodomy and illicit sex degraded people and, therefore, were contrary to Islamic tenets . . .
"If there's proof [of the wrongdoing], take it to court. There's no need to make it public.
"Our religion does not approve of such allegations being made public, especially in the media, as it will be picked up by news agencies around the world," he said here yesterday.
"Malaysia seems to have lost its dignity[.]"
Nobody much seemed to be listening. In the following days, Anwar and his accuser in fact began using Islam in their attacks on one another. First Anwar's accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, on July 7 dared Anwar to swear on the Koran that Anwar did not sodomize him. Two days later, Anwar filed an official complaint with the Islamic Affairs Department charging that Saiful was guilty of qazaf--airing a false accusation that a person has committed adultery.
Meanwhile, this outfit, The New Straits Times Online, which seems to be functioning as sort of the New York Post of Malaysia, is breathlessly following events with as much vigor and detail as the Post devotes to, say, tracking the various animals, vegetables, and minerals that cycle in and out of Madonna's vagina.
Malaysia is a European colonial construct, one of the most absurd on earth. It combines former British colonies on the southernmost tip of the Thai peninsula with former British colonies on the northernmost region of the island of Kalimantan. In between lies hundreds of miles of the South China Sea.
While the people of the Thai peninsula can muster a good argument for being a nation--ethnic Malays, they became predominately Muslim beginning in the 16th Century, in contrast to the Buddhist Thais to the north--the forced conjoining with the animist Dayaks of northern Kalimantan is a sick joke. All that separates these Dayaks from the Dayaks of the rest of Kalimantan is a line on a piece of paper that marked a division of spoils between the Dutch and the English. Prior to European colonialism, the people of northern Kalimantan shared about as much in common with the Malays of the Thai peninsula as Koreans share with Swedes.
As England reluctantly relinquished its hold on what would become Malaysia, it pursued a vicious 12-year counterinsurgency that basically killed off everyone in the region with any leftist tendencies. This slaughter was considered in the West such a "success" that the United States attempted, disastrously, to import into its Vietnam fiasco such Malaysian "successes" as "strategic hamlets," "winning hearts and minds," and the murderous paramilitary paladins of the Phoenix Program. As the years have passed, the Malaysian "success" has appeared, even to the British, more dubious: as in Iran, decimating the left opened a vaccum that was filled by Islam.
In contrast to post-1979 Iran, however, Malaysia has rarely agitated the West.
The Wall Street Journal, ever with its eye on the interests of capital, describes, in the context of the Anwar story, Malaysia this way:
The allegations cap a tumultuous year so far in Malaysia, a resource-rich, majority-Muslim nation of 26 million that has long been one of the most politically stable and economically strong countries in Asia. The nation is among the U.S.'s top-15 trading partners and is a big exporter of palm oil--used in cooking oils and biofuels--natural gas and electronics components. Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. of the U.S. and Nokia Corp. of Finland are among the many Western companies that have big operations there.
Malaysia also compliantly provides tin, copper, and petroleum to Western transnationals, and on Kalimantan permits extensive deforestation--today primarily for the benefit of other Asian nations, like Japan--that, combined with logging operations across the border in Indonesia, have on several occasions over the past decade created forest fires of such vast magnitude they have blocked out the sun and thereby killed crops, halted air traffic for hundreds of miles around, and sickened with smoke and haze human beings and other living things in more than a dozen nations.
A piece from the Vancouver Sun aptly summarizes the genesis and timeline of the sex-soaked shenanigans that are currently roiling Malaysia.
There have been questions for several months over whether Abdullah's chosen successor, Najib, is fit to take over the leadership. At the heart of this question is a continuing court case over the murder of a Mongolian woman translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu, the mistress of one of Najib's policy advisers Abdul Razak Baginda . . .
These allegations were made by opposition leader Anwar last week, coupled with a demand that a full public inquiry be launched into Najib's involvement in the Shaariibuu affair.
Retribution was not long in coming. By mid-week allegations had been made by [] officials that Anwar had committed sodomy--illegal in Malaysia--with a member of his staff. Anwar dismissed the story as "pure lies" and said it was the same kind of fabrication that was used to discredit him in 1998.
Anwar had been Dr Mahathir's deputy and finance minister, but the two fell out over how to respond to the Asian economic crisis of 1997 . . . Dr Mahathir responded by backing trumped-up charges of sodomy and corruption against Anwar, who was convicted and sentenced to prison. It was only after Dr Mahathir resigned that a court in 2004 overturned the conviction as being without substance and freed Anwar.
But memories of betrayal and disloyalty are long in Malaysia and there remain many Dr Mahathir supporters passionately determined that Anwar will never be prime minister.
The Economist, while a conservative publication that worships at the altar of capital, generally keeps a close, if jaundiced, eye on those nations formerly forced into the British Empire. A recent Economist piece explains why it was important for the Malaysian government to again go after Anwar . . . and also why it may have misstepped:
Whatever the motive for the allegations against Mr Anwar, or for his against the government, he seems for the moment to have the political initiative. This is partly a tribute to his political skills; but another factor is the sympathy, or at least indifference, of the Malaysian public, which hoped it had heard the last of sodomy in public life. The term entered the Malaysian political lexicon in 1998, when Mr Anwar was accused of sodomy and of corruption during the tenure of the then prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, whom Mr Anwar served as deputy.
The sodomy accusation was widely believed to be politically motivated, and therefore untrue. The country found itself divided and appalled. But the nature of the alleged crime was scarcely an issue. What provoked outrage were the seemingly untrammelled powers of the prime minister, the dubious role of the judiciary and the blatant bias of the press . . .
Mr Anwar was freed from jail early in the tenure of Abdullah Badawi, Dr Mahathir's handpicked successor (and now, butt of his fierce criticism). For many this was a happy conclusion to a lurid episode, not necessarily out of any deep affection for Mr Anwar but because what was widely seen as an injustice had at last been corrected. Sodomy, it was hoped, could be forgotten. Mr Anwar was yesterday's man.
All that changed with the March 8th election. The [government party] suffered its worst-ever electoral result and Mr Anwar leapt back to the forefront of politics. The election could be read as a vote against [the government] rather than for Mr Anwar's disparate coalition. But he has since been portraying himself as prime minister in waiting. The sluggish pace of Malaysian politics has accelerated, and the momentum has been dictated largely by the opposition . . .
Since the elections Malaysians have shown that they can cope with rapid change but the recent events have come as a shock. The word "bewildered" litters the Malaysian blogosphere. Conspiracy theories swirl but government ministers have denied any link with the accuser. He himself is in hiding. His family deny he has the backing of the government. Mr Anwar and his supporters, however, have produced pictures of him with various people linked to the government, including an aide to Najib Razak, Mr Badawi's deputy and heir-apparent . . . In 1998 Mr Anwar's accusers failed to make the charges stick in the court of public opinion. That stands him in good stead as Malaysia hunkers down for an extended, unwanted, repeat performance.
From The Wall Street Journal, which also always keeps its eye on the capital prize:
The decades-long supremacy of the National Front coalition, dominated by the United Malays National Organization, received its greatest challenge in March when it suffered a drubbing in a national election. It still garnered just enough seats in the lower house of Parliament to stay in power, but it raised the prospect that Malaysia would become a model of peaceful democratic change in the Islamic world, and that the National Front could be ousted after ruling since Malaysian independence in 1957.
The country also has been racked by religious and ethnic tensions as it continues to pursue an economic policy that favors ethnic Malays. In November, ethnic Indians engaged in unprecedented protests over alleged discrimination, prompting a government clampdown. Accelerating inflation and rising fuel prices has added to the discontent among the nation's citizens.
Mr. Anwar's People's Justice Party, or Parti Keadilan Rakyat, won 82 seats along with a group of allies in the 222-seat lower house of Parliament in the March 8 vote. The alliance needs 30 more seats to replace the National Front coalition, and the charismatic Mr. Anwar has been trying to attract defectors from the ruling coalition in hopes of forcing a change in government. It would be unprecedented in Malaysian history for the opposition to take power through the parliamentary process.
Anwar himself explains why the government is again attempting to arrest his political momentum with a charge of sodomy: "[T]hey think this is the best [way] to cause anxiety and disgust among Muslims."
Which raises the same sort of question as Alexa asked here, in relation to the now-infamous New Yorker cover. In her diary, the question was: "is there something wrong with being Muslim?" Here, the question is: "is there something wrong with sodomy?"
Well, in this country, until 2003 sodomy, at least among persons of the same sex (as is the allegation over there in Malaysia), was in this country considered so wrong it was against the law. As has been noted of late over on our orange blog, we in this country may very soon be given an opportunity, in our own contest for chief executive, to decide just how wrong we consider same-sex sodomy. This is because John McCain is apparently considering as his running mate a man who is a same-sex-sodomy devotee. Though the vote will of course not be a truly free and open one, as this man has hastily taken a wife, in an effort to hide his love, a love that he feels still dare not speak its name.
The Bush administration has now expressed "serious concern" over Anwar's arrest. But as no one even in the United States listens to Bush anymore, his "concern" is unlikely to have any effect in Malaysia. Indeed, Malaysia had previously sent a note of protest complaining about US meddling in Malaysian affairs.
What will probably have more effect is this carefully worded "open letter" from a number of prominent Muslims, drawn from a galaxy of Muslim nations.
It reads, in part:
We are deeply concerned about the physical safety and freedom of our respected brother Datuk Seri Dr. Anwar Ibrahim. We are troubled by the unsubstantiated and clearly scurrilous claims made against him and his character . . .
Our beloved Malaysia is today one of the leading countries of the Muslim Ummah. It is an example of a successful modern Islamic country, and in many ways a model and example for other Muslim countries . . . Indeed, perhaps precisely because of Malaysia's prominence within the Ummah and the world, we would like to point out that the global Muslim community is paying close attention to the way our respected and honorable brother Dr. Anwar Ibrahim is treated. We have no wish to interfere in the internal politics of Malaysia, or in civil and criminal accusations within the country, which we reiterate are ultimately the business only of the Malaysian state and people. However, the spectacle, ten years ago, of our respected brother Datuk Seri Dr. Anwar Ibrahim sitting patiently in court after having been personally and illegally beaten up by then Police Chief of Malaysia is still fresh within our minds as a travesty of justice and impartiality under the law in a leading Muslim country. We are all still ashamed of that image, which will ever be indelibly engraved in our memories . . .
Thus we feel that we have a right--and indeed, an obligation under Islam--to strongly urge the Malaysian authorities to facilitate a swift, transparent and just resolution to this issue and resolutely ensure the safety, freedom and physical well-being of our honorable and respected brother Anwar Ibrahim . . .
Finally, we are morally obliged as Muslims to also point out that our religion and our beloved Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) regard false accusations in these matters to be of extremely grave consequence. In fact, under Islamic Law, accusations of this magnitude that are not substantiated by four eye-witnesses of impeccable character (such as did not occur neither with these accusations nor with the previous ones) incur severe legal punishment only for the accusers themselves . . .
However, we have complete trust in Allah and so remain hopeful that the highest political authorities in Malaysia will, in sha Allah, secure an honest and just outcome to this deeply troubling situation.
Meanwhile, I'm kinda concerned about this Raja Petra Kamaruddin blogger. Anwar, he has folks like the US government and a group of Islamic scholars looking out for him. Not so Raja Petra.
Here is the guy's wiki entry. Says he's a distant relation of the Malay royal family. Might seem like enough protection; still, you never know. Here is his blogger profile. Seems an impassioned, feisty guy: one of us. I liked what I found on his site--until it stopped appearing on my computer. Now I am happy to say that his site appears to be back up. Still, I think we should keep our eye on him. Judging both from news on the tubes and his wiki entry, he seems to be spending a lot of time of late in police stations. When Raja Petra goes into police custody on this latest warrant--hell, any time he goes into police custody--I want to make sure he comes back out. If he wasn't so eternally busy trying to make his own country safe for something like democracy, I'm sure he'd do the same for us.
by: blueness
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Press Statement By Anwar Ibrahim
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kuala Lumpur, July 15, 2008, 3:30 PM
This afternoon we have been notified by the DSP Jude Pereira that our client has been summoned to IPK KL tomorrow at 2:00 PM.
This announcement contravenes the agreement we had already made to present our client for his statement on Thursday at 2:00 PM at IPK KL.
Federal CID chief Mohd Bakri Zinin has stated that failure to comply with this sudden change may precipitate the arrest of our client.
We are troubled by the threatening language coming from the CID and by the unannounced change. No reason has been given for this change and we are concerned that internal confusion within the law enforcement agencies may precipitate in harm coming to our client.
Notwithstanding these latest developments our client has agreed to fully cooperate with the CID police and appear at 2:00 PM on Wednesday to give a statement. At 10:30 AM on Wednesday he will also give a statement to the Anti Corruption Agency pertaining to the police report that has been filed regarding suppression of material facts in our clients case in 1998.
We reiterate that until our client has yet to be provided with the police report that has been filed against him despite multiple requests that have been made to obtain it.
SANKARA NAIR
COUNSEL TO ANWAR BIN IBRAHIM
Kuala Lumpur, July 15, 2008, 3:30 PM
This afternoon we have been notified by the DSP Jude Pereira that our client has been summoned to IPK KL tomorrow at 2:00 PM.
This announcement contravenes the agreement we had already made to present our client for his statement on Thursday at 2:00 PM at IPK KL.
Federal CID chief Mohd Bakri Zinin has stated that failure to comply with this sudden change may precipitate the arrest of our client.
We are troubled by the threatening language coming from the CID and by the unannounced change. No reason has been given for this change and we are concerned that internal confusion within the law enforcement agencies may precipitate in harm coming to our client.
Notwithstanding these latest developments our client has agreed to fully cooperate with the CID police and appear at 2:00 PM on Wednesday to give a statement. At 10:30 AM on Wednesday he will also give a statement to the Anti Corruption Agency pertaining to the police report that has been filed regarding suppression of material facts in our clients case in 1998.
We reiterate that until our client has yet to be provided with the police report that has been filed against him despite multiple requests that have been made to obtain it.
SANKARA NAIR
COUNSEL TO ANWAR BIN IBRAHIM
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