Malaysia's Anwar thanks Phl for support for democracy

MANILA, Philippines - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim thanked the Filipino people yesterday for continuing to support the fight for democracy in Malaysia.

“Thank you for supporting freedom and democracy, it means a lot,” Anwar, a former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, told editors and columnists during a visit to The STAR office in Manila.

He also expressed gratitude for the support of officials of the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, and the European Union.

Anwar arrived in Manila Thursday to give a lecture today at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City on the influences of Dr. Jose Rizal and Ninoy Aquino on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leadership.

He will also meet his friend, former President Joseph Estrada, over breakfast at Club Filipino in San Juan this morning.

Anwar said he had once met President Aquino whom he praised for fighting corruption and upholding democracy like his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.

The Malaysian opposition leader believes that democracy is deteriorating in Malaysia.

“You are right, democracy is in decline. We don’t have free elections and the media is not free,” he said.

Anwar said that his trial on new sodomy charges would start on Aug. 8 and it could be drawn out until the next parliamentary elections in Malaysia, which is expected to be held in November.

“They (Malaysian authorities) would convict me before the elections, to deny me participating in the elections,” he said.

He said that the Malaysian authorities might cheat to put the party of Prime Minister Najib Rzak back in power.

Anwar said they received reports that 200,000 Indonesians have been registered to vote.

He said that some Filipinos in Sabah are also allowed to register on the condition that they would vote for the ruling party.

“I believe in the people of Malaysia. The Malaysian media and the government may have labeled me as a threat to the country and accused me of being a pawn for Zionists and the United States, but I believe the people can’t be fooled,” said Anwar.

A Malaysian court has said sodomy charges against Anwar are “credible.”

He is accused of sodomizing a former male aide in a Kuala Lumpur hotel in 2008. Anwar denied the charges. If proven guilty, he could go to jail for 20 years.

Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia, even among consenting adults.

Anwar was imprisoned on separate sex and corruption charges in 1998, and freed on appeal in 2004.

Malaysian envoy’s wife denies Twitter message

Meanwhile, the wife of Malaysia’s top diplomat in the Philippines disowned on Wednesday a Twitter message criticizing Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, saying it was a “set-up” aimed at putting them in a bad light and harming relations between the two countries.

In an interview, Datin Seri Dato’ Zainab Abd. Kader, wife of Ambassador Dato Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad, clarified that the Twitter message from the sender @BikMama2U was sent to her.

Dato’ Zainab, reacting to the article of STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc on Aug. 1 “Rizal doesn’t deserve this,” cited a Twitter message attributed to her criticizing and labeling Rizal as an “infidel Malay.”

She said she was not the sender of the message, noting that the message showed she was the recipient since the sender asked her to send her regards to her husband.

“BikMama2U is pretending to be on my side. It was his or her who said that about Rizal, not me. BikMama is a fake twittter. We presumed it’s a picture of the Prime Minister’s wife. It’s a fake ID. It even said don’t forget to send regards to your husband,” Dato’ Zainab told The STAR.

In a letter, Dato’ Zainab said, “I wish to categorically deny the accusation against me that I called Jose Rizal an ‘Infidel Malay’ via Twitter, or via any other medium for that matter. I wish to also deny in the strongest terms that I had insulted Jose Rizal in any manner whatsoever.”

The ambassador and his wife questioned the timing of the release last Monday of the July 16 Twitter message article attributed to her, saying it was only a few days before the visit to Manila this week of Ibrahim.

“It’s even worse for a diplomat’s wife to say something like that. What surprised me is who alerted of the Tweet and why was it written a few days before Anwar Ibrahim arrived in the Philippines to give a talk. It was meant to smear my name,” Dato’ Zainab said.

When asked about the Twitter message that caused a stir in Kuala Lumpur political circles last week, Anwar said, “Well, not much is really necessary because I didn’t see the content. I wish she could give her side on the issue since I know the family, and for the sake of good relations we just clear the air and since she denied (it), I think it is a good move because Jose Rizal is a Filipino hero to us, (he) is my hero and a hero of Asians.” With Pia Lee-Brago, Rudy Santos