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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim
insisted Wednesday he would fight a by-election later this year and
form a new government despite fears he would soon be charged with
sodomy.
“There are thousands of criminal cases not
properly investigated. Why pursue this with zeal and in an unjust
way? Is it because I will participate in a by-election,” Anwar
told reporters.
“You want me to withdraw? No. I will continue
to pursue the change. Let’s see if they want to charge me,” he
said after being interviewed by Islamic Shariah enforcement
officials over the sodomy allegations.
The former deputy prime minister admitted that
his family and friends would undergo the same suffering they
experienced in 1998 if he is “victimized, arrested and jailed.”
Anwar has said the allegations of a young male
aide, a repeat of charges that saw him jailed a decade ago, have
been fabricated to block his plans to topple the coalition that has
ruled Malaysia for half a century.
He has demanded that police stop the
investigation and called the aide, 23-year-old Mohamad Saiful
Bukhari Azlan, an “outright liar” who was working with others in
power to frame him.
Police, however, have said they would continue
sodomy investigations on Anwar despite a leaked medical report which
he said had vindicated him as it showed no evidence that his accuser
was sodomized.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the medical
report was part of a whole chain of evidence that police were
investigating, the Star daily reported.
“We have to let the police complete their
investigations, submit their investigating papers to the prosecutor
and let the prosecutor decide if there is a case,” the home
minister was quoted as saying by the newspaper Wednesday.
Sodomy even between consenting adults is a crime
punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment in mostly Muslim Malaysia.
-- AFP
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