 Anwar leaves Turkish embassy
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-01 07:57 Anwar Ibrahim, leader of Malaysia's revitalized opposition, left the Turkish embassy yesterday where he had taken refuge following sodomy accusations, the latest thunderbolt in Malaysia's political tempest. Anwar left the embassy around 1045 GMT (6:45 pm Beijing time) via the ambassador's residence. "Only after I received assurances of my safety, (did) I leave. I'm leaving on my own volition," he told reporters. The former deputy premier fled to the embassy early on Sunday fearing for his security after police began investigating a young aide's allegation that Anwar had homosexually assaulted him. Foreign Minister Rais Yatim had summoned the Turkish ambassador yesterday to complain that Turkey had interfered in Malaysia's internal affairs. Anwar said he would cooperate with the police investigation, but feared a repeat of a similar drama a decade ago when he was accused of committing sodomy with the family driver and a political aide. Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and then jailed for corruption and sodomy after leading street protests against then premier Mahathir Mohamad's government during the Asian financial crisis. The Supreme Court overturned the sodomy conviction six years later. In a telephone interview earlier, Anwar said the allegations pre-empted plans to announce this week he was running for a seat in parliament in a by-election, and that four ruling coalition lawmakers would defect to the opposition camp. The former deputy premier says he has been engineering defections aimed at overturning Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's majority in parliament at a time when Abdullah was facing pressures from his own party to step down. The sodomy allegation was a ploy to distract public attention from rising food and fuel prices and other scandals afflicting Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's government, he said. Sodomy is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Malaysia. Agencies (China Daily 07/01/2008 page11) |
