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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim prepared
Monday to leave the Turkish Embassy where he fled after being
accused of sodomy, and filed a lawsuit against his accuser.
“I will be leaving the embassy at 6:15 or 6:30
[same time in Manila], accompanied by my lawyers and my wife Azizah.
I have not decided where I will be going from here,” he told
Agence France-Presse by telephone.
Anwar, a former deputy premier who was sacked
and jailed a decade ago on sodomy and corruption counts, said the
new charges leveled by a 23-year-old aide were designed to derail
his stunning political comeback.
“They came out with these sexual allegations
to stop me from securing power,” said the charismatic 60-year-old
whose opposition alliance seized a third of parliamentary seats in
March elections.
“There’s two reasons why I decided to come
to the embassy. It’s not just for my personal safety, it’s also
for the stability of the nation,” he said, referring to
expectations of major protests if he is arrested.
Anwar, a friend of Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, sought sanctuary on Sunday, saying he feared a
government assassination plot after being hit with the
“fabricated” sex allegations.
He earlier sought assurances on his safety from
the government.
“You know I have previously been assaulted to
near death,” Anwar said, referring to a beating at the hands of
the police chief after he was sacked.
Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said he had summoned
the Turkish ambassador and warned he would “suffer the
consequences of obstructing justice” if he allowed Anwar to evade
a police investigation.
“The ambassador is of the view that he would
like Anwar to be out of the premises as soon as possible, as
congenially as possible . . . we hope that is the case,” he told a
press conference.
Anwar’s lawyers on Monday filed a writ at the
High Court charging the young aide with libel and filing a false
police report, saying the complaint was malicious and designed to
destroy the opposition leader’s political career.
After his sacking, a watershed event in
Malaysian politics, Anwar was convicted on the sodomy and corruption
charges and sent to jail for six years. He was released in 2004 when
the sex charge was overturned.
The opposition leader said the new allegations
came just as he was about to reenter parliament through a
by-election. He was ineligible until mid-April because of the
corruption conviction.
But he added that he was still on track to seize
power, with the help of defecting government lawmakers.
“The momentum is still on,” Anwar said.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar accused Anwar of
staging a drama and said that the opposition leader was perfectly
safe.
“No one has endangered his life, a private
person has made a police report against him. You should allow the
police to investigate,” he told reporters.
“It is play-acting on the part of Anwar to
gain sympathy, to show that his life is in danger. I give guarantees
that his life will be protected, his life is not under threat at
all,” the Home Minister said.
Leading human-rights group Suaram said the
allegations were a sign of desperation by the ruling coalition as it
faced being ousted by Anwar’s resurgent opposition.
“We see this as a politically motivated move
by the ruling party. They are at the brink of losing power and
support of the people,” said Suaram’s Executive Director Yap
Swee Seng.
“I think there will be a wave of street
protests in support of Anwar against these wild allegations,” he
added. “People are fed up with corruption and abuse of power by
this regime.”
-- AFP
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