THE BATTLE GOES ON | In the face of the charges against him, Anwar Ibrahim pleads not guilty and vows to continue his fight for reform

ASIAWEEK 9 Oct 1998
HE REALLY DIDN'T NEED to be in court. Having arrested him under the Internal Security Act (ISA), the authorities were under no legal obligation to put him on trial. The draconian law, intended for people perceived to be threats to national security, allows for the detainee to be held initially for up to 60 days without being charged. After that, he or she is either released or incarcerated for two years. After that, the Home Ministry can renew the detention on a two-yearly basis for an indefinite period. But this was no ordinary prisoner. It was former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim - sacked from the government, expelled from the party and arrested under highly controversial circumstances. For all the talk of Anwar being a sodomist, an adulterer and a traitor, nothing in the way of compelling evidence had been produced to justify the dismissal. If the government was to retain any credibility at all, it had to prosecute him and show in an open trial precisely why he was deemed unfit to be in a position of power and authority.

Thus, on Sept. 29 Anwar was produced in Kuala Lumpur's federal courthouse amid tight security to face nine charges: four counts of unnatural sex and five counts of corruption. If the authorities were hoping for some cooperation from Anwar, they didn't get it. "I plead not guilty; I claim trial," he said firmly to each of the charges. (He uttered the same words when he appeared in a courthouse in suburban Petaling Jaya the next day to face an additional sodomy charge.)

He then turned the table on his accusers, claiming that he was the victim of police brutality. When he appeared in court that morning - his first public appearance since his arrest nine days earlier - observers noticed that he was sporting a black eye and a bruised arm. On the first night of his arrest, Anwar charged, he was blindfolded and then punched and slapped by his police handlers until his lips had cracked and his left eye swollen shut. He "passed out" until the morning and was denied medical attention for five days.

In a press conference afterward, Anwar's wife demanded an explanation from the government for his state of health. "There was a hematoma [swelling of blood] on the left eye, a small depression on the left forehead, and his vision was impaired," said Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, an ophthalmologist by training. "This shows my fears [about his safety] were not unfounded." The court allowed an eye doctor to examine Anwar, and the police later announced that an independent investigation would look into his claims.

The matter predictably drew critical reactions from the usual quarters. Both Australian Prime Minister John Howard and the U.S. State Department expressed their concern; "the perpetrators," said the latter, "should be brought to justice." No such words were forthcoming from Asian nations, which generally kept their opinions to themselves (though many of their newspapers ran outraged editorials), or from Anwar's chief adversary, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who suggested that the injuries may have been self-inflicted. (Wan Azizah retorted: "I am shocked that a former medical doctor can say so without personally examining my husband."). Mahathir did add that the authorites would investigate Anwar's complaints.

For all the apparent beating he received, Anwar remained unbowed. "I am in good spirits," he said and vowed to fight on. With Anwar remaining in a defiant mood, a quick resolution to Malaysia's political crisis does not seem to be in the cards. The Mahathir-Anwar saga, it appears, still has a long way to go.

It certainly has come a long way. When Mahathir fired Anwar on Sept. 2, he may have thought that his deputy would fade away in the absence of support and patronage from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the most powerful party in the ruling coalition. But Anwar went on a nationwide roadshow to present his case; tens of thousands of Malaysians turned out to see him. When he organized a demonstration in central Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 20, up to 50,000 people rallied around his call for reform.

So Mahathir swiftly and firmly cracked down on the incipient movement. Anwar was arrested in a commando-like raid; seventeen others, most of them of his close associates, were also detained under the ISA (five have since been released). Demonstrations supporting the former student activist were broken up by force and over a hundred arrests made. Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah, was threatened with detention under the ISA if she tried to organize more rallies. With its dramatic show of force, the government might have been forgiven for thinking it had cowed both diehard supporters and quiet sympathizers of Anwar into submission.

BUT THEY WEREN'T. ON Sept. 25, after a relatively quiet few days, around 5,000 people staged a protest at Kuala Lumpur's National Mosque after Friday prayers. Shouting "reformasi" - reforms - they called on Mahathir to resign and unfurled banners proclaiming, "Stop the slander." Riot police quickly moved in to put an end to the exercise.

Another face-off took place the following day, Saturday. Protesters started gathering in downtown Merdeka Square. The police first issued a polite warning: We don't want to use force. Please go home. After a second warning, water cannons were deployed to clear the streets. The police continued to break up pockets of protest into the evening. Thirteen people were arrested.

Still, the protests refused to die down. Yet another one took place near the square on Sept. 28, despite the fact that the authorities had closed the area off to the public. About 1,000 Anwar supporters congregated and jeered at the riot squads stationed to prevent people from entering the square. Displaying less delicacy than on Saturday, the police moved in with batons and electric prods, beating those unfortunate enough to get caught. Scores more were taken into custody.

If the continuing demonstrations indicate anything, it is that sympathy for Anwar runs deep. Part of the reason is no doubt his campaign to take his case to the people, and his constant agitations to clear his name and attack the administration. He has been able to strike back at his accusers even after his arrest. On Sept. 24, a videotaped testimony by Anwar was aired worldwide on cable news channel CNBC. In the message, Anwar portrayed himself as a champion of the people who has fallen victim to vested interests. "What is my sin?" he asked. "My sin was wanting to protect truth, justice and the interests of the people."

UMNO leaders have not been sitting idly by during Anwar's p.r. blitz. After an initial period of silence, Mahathir himself has been speaking in public regularly to defend his position and attack Anwar. On Sept. 22, he told the press that he initially did not believe the sodomy allegations against Anwar but was forced to change his mind in the face of witness testimonies. Three days later, he used his speech at an UMNO women's conference to swing away at his erstwhile deputy. Labeling homosexuality as "disgusting," he declared: "In Malaysia, we cannot accept a leader who has a strange behavior." He also played the nationalism card, asserting that a sexually immoral leader would be vulnerable to foreign pressure.

Mahathir's position received a boost when Hanif Omar, the respected former inspector-general of police, recently revealed that his officers had gathered evidence of Anwar's homosexuality as far back as 1993. According to Hanif, he reported the matter to Mahathir and was later summoned by Anwar, who "did not ask me how the evidence was obtained but wanted to know if my officers would use the evidence to blackmail him. I told him that the police were not in the blackmail business and advised him to stop indulging in homosexuality."

Many Malaysians, though, still have doubts about the official line. UMNO leaders concede that the biggest problem they face is winning the hearts of the people. "I am now inclined to accept that Anwar did all the things," says an UMNO MP. "But ordinary people - my own family, friends, people in my division, the little guys I meet - they're just not convinced. I don't know how we're going to convince them." An official close to the PM's office notes: "It has become a matter of faith. Those who are inclined toward the prime minister will believe him. Those who aren't won't."

The level of faith in the judiciary is also a factor. "People remember how Mahathir debauched the judicial system in the 1980s by firing judges who disagreed with him," says a former cabinet minister and retired UMNO leader. "They know that the judiciary doesn't have the credibility it once had." To which Chief Justice Mohamed Eusoff Chin responds: "I am not under anyone's control. I do not instruct my judges on what sort of fines or jail sentences to mete out."

Yet lawyers for the defense certainly question the due process - or the lack thereof - afforded Anwar and those charged in related cases. Take the case of Anwar's onetime tennis partner, S. Nallakaruppan, who was charged in August under the ISA for possession of 125 unlicensed bullets. On Sept. 2, he made a routine request to be moved back to prison from the police headquarters where he was being held. The police responded with four now-infamous affidavits stating why he shouldn't be transferred; the documents contended that he had acted as the middleman in Anwar's sexual trysts. They also alluded to possible treasonous activities, stating that since Nallakaruppan "often accompanies Anwar Ibrahim on his duties abroad, it is feared that his activities can be exploited by mischievous elements in and out of the country that want to jeopardize national security."

ACCORDING TO NALLAKARUPPAN'S LAWYER Manjeet Singh Dhillon, because the local newspapers were allowed to publish the affidavits even before any charges were filed - an unprecedented occurrence, he says - Anwar's legal case has been severely compromised. "The way events unfolded, has not everyone been prejudiced against Anwar in any likely defense by the amount of material produced against him?" asks Manjeet. "Will this not prejudice the man's eventual trial?"

Then there are the cases of Sukma Darmawan and Munawar Anees, Anwar's adopted brother and former speechwriter respectively. On Sept. 19, both pleaded guilty to being sodomized by Anwar and were sentenced to six months in prison. It was alleged that Sukma, an Indonesian immigrant, gave in to Anwar's homosexual advances because he felt indebted to the former deputy PM for helping him get Malaysian citizenship; Munawar consented because he feared losing his job. A Kuala Lumpur lawyer admits to being mystified by the claims. "Why Munawar, who has U.S. citizenship and a Ph.D. from an American university, would fear losing his job which pays half as much as his last job in the U.S. is a bit puzzling," he says.

Manjeet, who now also represents Munawar, says it is unusual that the two men, rather than being protected as victims of a sexual crime, were prosecuted instead. He cites a recent sodomy trial in which the alleged victim was not charged or even named in the newspapers. Manjeet points out other irregularities: Munawar's family was not informed when he would be charged, and the lawyer retained by his wife was not allowed to represent him. On Sept. 29, both men lodged an appeal against their sentences. And perhaps most significantly, Mahathir himself already declared, even before any charges were filed, that "I'm quite sure [Anwar] will be found guilty."

The heavy-handed tactics against Anwar and his followers have reminded the public of the government's authoritarian tendencies and added to the sense that corruption and injustice still prevail. Sensing the mood, a host of opposition parties, youth organizations and human-rights groups have gotten together to fight for political reform. On Sept. 27, Gagasan Demokratik Rakyat (Coalition for People's Democracy) came into being; the 18-member grouping includes opposition groups such as the Democratic Action Party and the Islamic Party of Malaysia, as well as the ABIM Muslim youth movement and human-rights advocates Suaram.

Many of the same organizations also formed the 13-member Gerakan Keadilan Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian People's Movement for Justice), which calls for an independent judiciary and the abolition of the ISA. Activist Mohamed Nasir Hashim, whose (as-yet-unregistered) Socialist Party of Malaysia belongs to both groupings, admits to being no friend of Anwar, whom he remembers as having supported the ISA when he was in office. "But the way Anwar was sacked and then treated has become the issue," he says. "The detention, the character assassination - these things have been blatant." He adds: "The issue now goes beyond Anwar and has become an attack on the ISA. There have long been frustrations over many issues, including the economy, and this has every chance of snowballing."

Even within UMNO, the word is that the sacking of Anwar - and his subsequent vilification and maltreatment - has severely shaken many members. The Supreme Council is likely to discuss whether Mahathir should appoint a new deputy PM - or someone with a similar title like senior minister - in order to fill the vacuum and let the party's healing process begin. A national healing process, though, may be much harder to come by.n

- With reporting by Santha Oorjitham and Arjuna Ranawana