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Tag: Anwar Ibrahim

  • Dr Mahathir: I Have Not And Will Not Apologise To Anwar Ibrahim

    Dr Mahathir: I Have Not And Will Not Apologise To Anwar Ibrahim

    KUALA LUMPUR — Former Malaysian premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has revealed that he has not and will not apologise to his former protege-turned-enemy and now ally, incarcerated opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

    In an interview with Australian broadcast agency SBS World News, Dr Mahathir said this is because he has never asked his detractors to apologise for criticising him.

    “We have all said nasty things about each other. I don’t ask people to apologise for calling me all kinds of names and accusing me of all kinds of wrongdoings.

    “What happened is in the past and we can’t be apologising for something that happened in the past,” he was quoted as saying.

    Anwar was Dr Mahathir’s deputy until they had a falling out in 1998, an event which sparked protests by Anwar supporters calling for political reform in the country.

    He was imprisoned on charges of corruption and sodomy shortly after, though Anwar claimed he was innocent and that the charges were politically-motivated.

    The former Umno man was released from prison in 2004 and went on to lead the opposition coalition, but was jailed again in 2015 on separate sodomy charges and is currently behind bars serving a five-year sentence.

    Last September, the two nemeses met face-to-face, under friendly circumstances, for the first time in 18 years — but the reunion has been described as a political ploy which “demonstrates the depth of their political opportunism and desperation”.

    Aside from Anwar, Dr Mahathir has also showed support for the DAP and its advisor, Mr Lim Kit Siang, who has been one of the former premier’s harshest critics for decades.

    When asked who will be named prime minister should Pakatan Harapan win the upcoming 14th general election, Dr Mahathir responded by saying “party infighting” has prevented the opposition pact from uniting and discussing the issue.

    “It is divisive. The moment you name a (candidate for) prime minister, there is going to be a lot of unsatisfied people who may sabotage the new opposition coalition,” Dr Mahathir said.

    “So it is better for us to name a prime minister (once) we win. It becomes irrelevant to name a prime minister now and then we lose,” he added.

    It is believed that Dr Mahathir was referring to Anwar’s party, PKR, which recently lost an ally, Pas, which ended its “tahaluf siyasi”, or political cooperation.

    Pas’ Syura Council decided that the move was necessary in order to defend the party’s Islamic agenda, aside from accusing PKR of breaking many terms of its conditional cooperation, including failing to support Pas in its Islamic agenda, and working against it in two by-elections last year.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • PM Najib Razak Courts Middle-Class Muslim Votes With Welcome From “Controversial” Preacher, Mufti Menk

    PM Najib Razak Courts Middle-Class Muslim Votes With Welcome From “Controversial” Preacher, Mufti Menk

    KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has rolled out the red carpet for controversial Islamic scholar Ismail Musa Menk, a move that analysts have suggested could be part of efforts by Prime Minister Najib Razak to burnish his Islamic credentials to appeal to middle-class Muslim voters ahead of the general election.

    “(Mufti) Menk is popular among middle-class Malaysian Muslims … and if this is to be read as a political motive, then this … will boost Najib’s popularity with that group,” Dr Norshahril Saat, a Fellow at the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute told TODAY.

    The Zimbabwe-born Mufti Menk has more than 2.3 million Facebook fans and 1.3 million Twitter followers who regularly share his positive quotes on life.

    However, the cleric has flirted with controversy: His strong stance against homosexuality led universities in Britain to cancel his speaking tours in 2013 and he had allegedly advised Muslims against wishing others Merry Christmas.

    He was due to give a talk at a religious conference in Singapore in 2015 but his segment was cancelled for “reasons the authorities did not disclose”, according to the organiser.

    Still, Mufti Menk was in Malaysia over the weekend for an Islamic conference where he was one of the keynote speakers.

    Mr Najib hosted a religious talk attended by the preacher at his official residence on Monday night after meeting the latter on Friday, an encounter that the Prime Minister wrote about in his blog. Photos of them were uploaded on both Mr Najib and Mufti Menk’s social media accounts.

    “Victory only comes to those who are most patient,” Mr Najib quoted the preacher in his blog, noting that those were the words that “struck me the most” in their meeting to discuss about Islam, extremism, as well as the plight and welfare of Muslims around the world.

    The Prime Minister referenced the trials and tribulations faced by Prophet Muhammad and said: “This is one of the reasons why that quote by Mufti Menk struck a chord with me. That has been the way of Rasulullah SAW, and must continue to be the way forward for us Muslims.”

    Malaysia’s national polls are not due until next year but Mr Najib is expected to call for snap polls this year after battling issues surrounding state firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad and overcoming efforts by former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to remove him.

    Throughout last year, Mr Najib’s ruling party, United Malays National Organisation (Umno), increasingly played up the racial and religious cards in a bid to retain the support from the Malays and Bumiputras — a key voting bloc for his party.

    Mr Asrul Hadi Abdullah, a director with political risk consultancy BowerGroupAsia, told TODAY that Mr Najib’s association with Mufti Menk is in line with Umno’s political Islam narrative to capture the Malay community’s votes, as the scholar is popular with the Malay electorate.

    Mr Asrul’s views were echoed by Mr Adib Zalkapli, a political analyst at political risk advisory firm Vriens & Partners, who noted that any association with Mufti Menk is “definitely a vote winner”.

    “Najib is not the first politician to employ this strategy and he won’t be the last. (Former opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim used the same strategy by getting support from Yusuf Qaradawi when he was on trial for sodomy in 2014,” he said in reference to the renowned Islamic scholar and the head of the Qatar-based International Union for Muslim Scholars.

    Anwar was convicted and jailed for sodomising a former aide, a charge he describes as a politically-motivated attempt to end his career.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Malaysia Court Upholds Jailing Of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim

    Malaysia Court Upholds Jailing Of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim

    Anwar Ibrahim, the former leader of the Malaysian opposition, has lost a final appeal to have his prison sentence for sodomy overturned and will serve out the remaining 16 months of his sentence in jail.

    Significantly the ruling means Anwar will not be allowed to contest the next election in 2018, which the opposition saw as their best chance to unseat prime minister Najib Razak and end his ruling party’s six decades in power.

    A five-member panel of judges ruled unanimously that there was no merit in Anwar’s application for a review of his 2014 conviction, his final legal option for an acquittal.

    “We will not proceed to examine the applicant’s review application,” the court said.

    Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside the Palace of Justice to show support for Anwar and police erected steel barricades around the court complex.

    Anwar was led into the dock by more than a dozen prison guards. His wife, daughters and grandchildren were present. After the ruling he told reporters: “It is not the end of the road.”

    Having led a coalition of opposition parties in 2013 to their largest ever electoral gains, Anwar, 69, is seen as the greatest threat to the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno).

    He served as deputy prime minister and finance minister in the 1990s for Umno under former leader Mahathir Mohamad but they fell out and he was removed from his post and jailed for several years amid outcry from human rights groups.

    In 2013 he returned to politics to run a campaign against corruption and nepotism against Najib that won the popular vote but lost the election by number of legislators elected. Its was Umno’s worst ever election performance.

    But Anwar returned to prison in 2015 after his longstanding conviction — for allegedly sodomising a former aide — was upheld. His supporters say the case is a politically motivated attempt to end his career.

    This summer Anwar rejoined his old enemy Mahathir to try to unseat Najib, who in 2015 was thrown into a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal involving the debt-laden state fund 1MDB. Najib denies taking any money for personal gain.

    The historic partnership between Anwar and Mahathir brought members of the opposition and Umno against Najib for the first time.

    However under Malaysian law a person is banned from political activities for five years after the end of their sentence, closing the possibility of Anwar leading any campaign as he did in 2013.

    The Free Anwar Now campaign released a statement ahead of the verdict saying the case had “been plagued with many anomalies and inconsistencies, questionable DNA evidence and tampering of critical evidence”.

    “Anwar Ibrahim, who turns 70 next year, is surely not a hardened criminal that deserves the harshness of a prison sentence. He endures physical discomfort and mental anguish daily.”

    Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said the decision was a “real tragedy for justice” in Malaysia.

    “More than anything this outcome shows that the Malaysian courts were no match for prime minister Najib Razak’s political vendetta against Anwar,” he said.

    “With this final decision running roughshod over Anwar’s rights and sending him back to prison, Najib and the ruling Umno party have just fired the starting gun on the expected 2018 election by permanently sidelining the political opposition’s most capable leader.”

    Writing in the Guardian on Tuesday, Anwar said his “political imprisonment” meant Malaysia needed “unyielding international encouragement and pressure”.

    “The past 20 years … have seen our country go from bad to worse politically and economically, driven by compromised democratic institutions and years of systematic abuse by the ruling elite to maintain their grip on power.”

     

    Source: www.theguardian.com

  • Anwar Gagal Mulakan Tuduhan Qazaf Terhadap Bekas Pembantu

    Anwar Gagal Mulakan Tuduhan Qazaf Terhadap Bekas Pembantu

    Bekas Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hari ini (5 Dis) gagal untuk memulakan prosiding pertuduhan qazaf terhadap bekas pembantu peribadinya, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, di Mahkamah Syariah.

    Ini berikutan panel tiga hakim Mahkamah Rayuan Syariah yang dipengerusikan Datuk Seri Dr Md Yusup Che Teh menolak rayuan dan semakan Datuk Seri Anwar terhadap keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi Syariah pada 14 April 2010, yang menolak permohonannya bagi memulakan prosiding qazaf terhadap Encik Mohd Saiful Bukhari.

    Mengikut Akta Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah (Wilayah-Wilayah Persekutuan) 1997, pertuduhan qazaf ialah membuat tuduhan terhadap seseorang yang melakukan zina tanpa membawa empat saksi lelaki, dan jika sabit kesalahan, boleh dikenakan hukuman penjara sehingga tiga tahun atau denda sehingga RM5,000 (S$1,600) atau kedua-duanya.

    LIWAT TIDAK TERGOLONG DALAM TUDUHAN QAZAF

    Hakim Md Yusup dalam keputusan sebulat suara bersama Hakim-hakim Datuk Yusof Musa dan Mohd Amran Mat Zain berkata mahkamah itu terikat dengan undang-undang Malaysia mengikut Akta Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah (Wilayah-Wilayah Persekutuan) 1997 bahawa liwat tidak tergolong dalam pertuduhan qazaf.

    “Qazaf hanya untuk kes pertuduhan zina sahaja dan kami terikat dengan Seksyen 41 itu. Oleh itu kami tidak mempunyai pilihan lain, perlu mengikut undang-undang di negara ini bagi pertuduhan qazaf,” katanya.

    Beliau juga berkata mahkamah juga tidak boleh campur tangan terhadap kuasa ketua pendakwa Syarie berhubung sesuatu pendakwaan kerana itu kuasa eksklusifnya yang tidak boleh dipaksa untuk memulakan pendakwaan.

    Katanya oleh yang demikian, mahkamah itu tidak mempunyai alasan untuk campur tangan terhadap keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi Syariah tersebut seterusnya mengekalkan keputusan itu.

    Beliau berkata Datuk Seri Anwar selaku perayu juga gagal mengemukakan hujahan bertulis untuk menyokong rayuannya sebaliknya hanya membangkitkannya dalam hujahan lisan.

    “Rayuan perayu (Anwar) ditolak dengan kos RM5,000,” kata Md Yusup.

    Pada 7 Januari 2010, Datuk Seri Anwar menfailkan permohonan bagi mendapatkan perintah untuk mengarahkan Ketua Pendakwa Syarie Wilayah Persekutuan supaya mendakwa Encik Mohd Saiful Bukhari atas tuduhan qazaf.

    Beliau menamakan Ketua Pendakwa Syarie Wilayah Persekutuan, Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam (JAWI) dan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom sebagai responden. Datuk Seri Jamil Khir hadir pada prosiding hari ini.

    Datuk Seri Anwar juga hadir di mahkamah. Peguam Dr Rafie Mohd Shafie yang mewakilinya ketika ditemui berkata pihaknya akan memfailkan semakan terhadap keputusan Mahkamah Rayuan Syariah itu kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong secepat mungkin.

    Datuk Seri Anwar, 69, kini menjalani hukuman penjara lima tahun di Penjara Sungai Buloh selepas Mahkamah Persekutuan pada 10 Februari 2015 mengekalkan sabitan dan hukuman penjara yang dijatuhkan Mahkamah Rayuan selepas dia didapati bersalah meliwat Encik Mohd Saiful Bukhari.

    Source: Berita MediaCorp

  • Dr Mahathir Meets Anwar For First Time In Over 18 Years

    Dr Mahathir Meets Anwar For First Time In Over 18 Years

    Once bitter foes, former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad and the one-time protege he jailed, Anwar Ibrahim, exchanged a previously unthinkable handshake on Monday (Sept 5) that illustrated the country’s topsy-turvy politics.

    Dr Mahathir sparked a social media frenzy with a show of support at a court appearance by Anwar, who was jailed again last year by Malaysia’s current government following a sodomy conviction, the same charge Dr Mahathir used against him in 1998.

    “Pertemuan pertama selepas 18 tahun 2 hari..sejak 3 September 1998..,” (The first meeting after 18 years 2 days..since 3 September 1998) opposition leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also Anwar’s wife, wrote on her Facebook page in Malay as she posted a picture of Anwar and Dr Mahathir shaking hands in a crowded courtroom.

    The brief and smiling encounter — images were shared widely online — underlined the political flux in Malaysia, where opposition to current Prime Minister Najib Razak has upended alliances. Mr Najib is facing calls to quit following irregularities in state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) as well as over US$681 million (S$924 million) deposited into his personal accounts. Mr Najib maintained he had not used the funds for personal gain, and has been cleared of any criminal offence.

    Dr Mahathir, who was Malaysia’s prime minister for 22 years before retiring in 2003, has led calls for Mr Najib to be ousted and to face justice.

    Monday’s meeting capped months in which Anwar and Dr Mahathir have flirted from a distance, reviving memories of their stormy past.

    Anwar was deputy premier and heir apparent to Dr Mahathir until he was sacked in 1998 by his boss over political differences, an episode that continues to reverbrate. Charged with sodomy and corruption, Anwar spent six years in jail. But he emerged to lead the previously ineffectual political opposition to strong electoral showings until he was jailed again in 2015 by Mr Najib’s government.

    Dr Mahathir played down Monday’s meeting, saying he was merely showing support for a legal challenge launched by Anwar against a new security law. The law, passed by Mr Najib’s government last year, grants Mr Najib sweeping security powers.

    “I don’t know about friends but I know I talked to him,” Dr Mahathir said with a chuckle when reporters asked after the encounter whether the two were friendly again.

    “I met him and had a long chat with him about what he was doing.”

    Anwar said Dr Mahathir’s appearance in court showed the latter “presumably” supported the reform agenda. Anwar said he will continue to “engage” with Dr Mahathir.

    “He has showed preparedness to come and pledge his support and wish me well and I presume therefore he supports the reform agenda,” Anwar told the Malaysian media when asked if Dr Mahathir had earned his trust.

    “My position is this: No 1 the welfare of the people is paramount, the welfare of the country is paramount, which means whoever wants to engage must accept a reform agenda,” he said, without elaborating on what he meant by “reform agenda’’.

    “Now I think I have seen everything,” Mr Eric Paulsen of activist group Lawyers for Liberty said in tweeting an image of the handshake.

    It remains to be seen whether any real detente between the political heavyweights can be achieved — or dent Mr Najib. The next general election must be held by mid-2018.

    Leading independent pollster Ibrahim Suffian called the handshake “a big deal” and a sign that “Mahathir has come full circle”. “The fundamental problem for the opposition was that Mahathir and Anwar couldn’t get along,” he said. “Their shaking hands means their interests have converged.

     

    Source: TODAY Online