Jakarta, Indonesia
30 June 2008
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has filed a defamationlawsuit against a former aide who accused him of sodomy. As ChadBouchard reports from Jakarta, he has left the Turkish Embassy groundsafter seeking refuge there for two days.
Anwar Ibrahim left the embassy compound, saying the government had taken steps to insure his safety.
Hesought refuge there Sunday, claiming that sodomy charges against him bya former aide were politically motivated and that he feared for hislife. He did not seek political asylum, but previously said he wouldnot leave until the government could guarantee he would not be harmed.
Lawyers for Anwar also filed a lawsuit accusing the 23-year-old former aide of libel and filing a false police report.
Theincident strongly resembles events in 1998, when Anwar was convicted onsimilar charges and sacked as deputy prime minister. Those chargeshave since been overturned.
Anwar told reporters in a pressconference that the new charges were a conspiracy by the ruling Barisangovernment to discredit him politically.
"I believe we arewitnessing a repeat of the methods used against me in 1998 when falseallegations were made under duress," he said. "This is clearly adesperate attempt by the Barisan national regime to arrest the movementof the Malaysian people towards freedom, democracy, and justice."
Apolitical analyst from Malaysia's Monash campus, James Chin, says thedevelopments have aggravated growing political turmoil. He says nomatter what the outcome, Anwar is likely to gain from the accusations.
"Assumingthe worst happens, that is the government or the police charge him forsodomy, he will get a lot of sympathy from a lot of people and a lot ofpeople do not believe the story that he is actually involved in such athing," he said. "If the government do not charge him for sodomy, hewill also get a lot of publicity out of this and he will also get a lotof sympathy from people who feel that he is being persecuted by thegovernment."
A sodomy conviction carries a 20-year prison term in Malaysia.
Anwarled a coalition that gained significant ground during general electionsin March. He has promised to oust the ruling party by September thisyear.