By Ranjeetha Pakiam
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he will subpoena Prime Minister Najib Razak to testify in his sodomy trial set to begin today, and accused the premier and wife Rosmah Mansor of conspiring to frame him.
Anwar lead counsel Karpal Singh today petitioned the court at an opening hearing today in Kuala Lumpur for a delay in order to get access to evidence. The court adjourned until 2:30 p.m. local time.
“The first thing Karpal will do is to subpoena Najib and Rosmah,” Anwar told reporters outside the courtroom. “Because they were personally involved in this conspiracy and frame-up.”
A conviction might lead to Anwar’s political downfall. The 62-year-old leader of the People’s Justice Party was jailed in 1998 on a similar charge, and barred from parliament for a decade. Najib runs the risk of being seen as using the trial for political gain, said Ibrahim Suffian, director of the Merdeka Center, an independent research institute near Kuala Lumpur.
“If Anwar loses he will be seen as a victim of political persecution; if Anwar wins, he is vindicated,” Ibrahim said. “Either way, it could just end up very badly for the government.”
Anwar’s lawyers want the chief justice to overrule the Federal Court’s decision on Jan. 29 to reject a judicial review. “Some 13 to 14 documents are necessary for the defense,” Karpal said.
Feeling the Heat
Najib is already feeling the heat from an inter-faith dispute that led to attacks on several Christian, Sikh and Muslim places of worship last month. The government is appealing a High Court decision to allow a Catholic newspaper to use the word “Allah” to refer to God in its Malay-language section, as some Muslims feel the word is exclusive to Islam.
“This trial damages Malaysia’s already descending reputation,” said Ooi Kee Beng, an analyst at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. “Burning churches, sodomy trials, severed boar heads, a ban on singular words. The Prime Minister is going to have a hard time getting foreign direct investment to flow in.”
Malaysia’s government banned non-Muslim publications from referring to “Allah” in 1986 on the grounds it could threaten national security and confuse the country’s Muslims, who make up more than 60 percent of the 27 million population. Anwar supports the use of the word by other religions.
Not Guilty Plea
The sodomy case is now in its second year after Anwar pled not guilty at an August 2008 court session to charges of having sex with a 23-year-old former aide at an apartment in Kuala Lumpur on June 26, 2008. Sodomy, defined as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in Malaysia, even if the act is between two consenting men.
The trial and the ongoing religious dispute may distract attention from Najib’s policies aimed at boosting the economy and investor confidence in the country. Last year, the government announced measures to open up the financial and banking industries to attract more foreign investment.
In addition to 67 billion-ringgit ($20 billion) of stimulus packages unveiled last year, Najib on Jan. 28 announced a plan to reduce corruption, crime and poverty, while improving education, transport and rural infrastructure.
Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy will probably expand 4.1 percent this year after a 2.3 percent contraction in 2009, the World Bank said last week. Najib said on Jan. 20 that growth may be 3.5 percent or more this year.
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister who was widely tipped to be the next leader of the country, faced similar allegations in 1998. He was sentenced to nine years in jail for sodomy and a separate corruption charge. He was released from prison in 2004 after the conviction was overturned.
Barred from politics until April 2008, Anwar won a seat in his former constituency in Permatang Pauh in August that year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net.
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