Anwar meets with 'old friend' Erap

MANILA, Philippines - Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met with former President Joseph Estrada yesterday during breakfast hosted by former Finance Secretary Jose Pardo at the Manila Polo Club in Forbes Park, Makati City.

Estrada’s camp described the meeting as “a reunion of old friends.”

The breakfast was attended by Malaysian Member of Parliament Mohamed Azmin Ali, executive director of the Institut Kajian Dasar Khalid Jaafar, former Ambassador Ernesto Maceda, former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Estrada spokesperson Margaux Salcedo, Philippine STAR columnist Marichu Villanueva, and businessman Fernando Peña.

Estrada and Ibrahim talked about their respective lives since the latter’s last visit to Manila in June 2008 when the former Philippine President hosted a dinner for him at his home in North Greenhills.

That meeting was also attended by the late former President Corazon Aquino.

Ibrahim was elated to hear that Estrada had been allowed by the Commission on Elections to participate in the upcoming elections.

During their meeting, Estrada said he could not help but compare their lives.

“We were both imprisoned, my wife ran for the Senate and his wife ran for Parliament and both won while we were in prison; then my son Jinggoy ran for the Senate and his daughter also ran for Parliament and also won. Then in 2008 he ran for Parliament and now I am running for president again,” Estrada said, pointing to the uncanny parallelisms in their lives.

The two leaders discussed the upcoming Philippine elections.

Estrada said Ibrahim had cautioned that the automation could lead to a lot of mistakes.

“If (poll automation) is less than 100 percent accurate, it could be very dangerous. I hope that the ASEAN will be more pro-active in monitoring your elections,” Ibrahim said.

Estrada said that his Malaysian friend had suggested that international election watchdogs and specific Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, if not the ASEAN as a body, should be allowed if not invited to observe the conduct of the elections, especially since it will be the first case of full automation in a national poll in Southeast Asia.

Ibrahim expressed hope that the upcoming elections will be honest.

“There must not only be transparency but a perception of transparency,” he said.

The former Malaysian leader was also confident that Estrada would do well in the upcoming polls.

“I think it will boil down to a three-cornered fight,” Ibrahim said, admitting that the former president has his experience going for him.

“He even has more experience than me,” Ibrahim said. “He was president, I was only deputy prime minister.”

Estrada returned the compliment by once again lauding Ibrahim as a champion of democracy.

“We have similar battles because while I have been fighting for the impoverished, Anwar has been fighting for the rights of the minority in Malaysia. I guess we have become good friends over the years because we have somehow been fighting for similar causes, for equality, justice and a real democracy,” Estrada said.

Anwar sees acquittal

With regard to the cases that he is currently facing, Ibrahim said he does not expect to be convicted on charges that he sodomized a former male aide.

“The medical records are in our favor. If they (prosecutors) go by the law, there would be no conviction,” he said.

Malaysia’s Federal Court on Friday upheld a lower court’s ruling that the prosecution does not need to provide Ibrahim with medical reports, camera recordings and other evidence ahead of his trial for alleged sodomy – a crime in the Muslim-majority country that carries a jail sentence of up to 20 years.

The former deputy prime minister was charged with corruption and sodomizing his former family driver in 1998. He was convicted and imprisoned but released in 2004 after the Federal Court overturned the sodomy conviction.

Ibrahim said the charges were meant to prevent him from challenging then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

He said the new charges are part of a political conspiracy to undermine his three-party opposition alliance. Malaysian officials have denied plotting against him. – With AP