Anwar Verdict: A Blow to Malaysia

By Frank Ching

Issue cover-dated August 24, 2000

Although not unexpected, the guilty verdict pronounced on former Malaysian deputy premier and finance minister Anwar Ibrahim was still shocking, as is the sentence of nine years in prison, to follow the six-year sentence for corruption that Anwar is currently serving. This effectively removes the former deputy to Premier Mahathir Mohamad from the political arena until the middle of the next decade. Little wonder that Anwar told the judge: "Thank you, your honour, you have completed Mahathir's plan."

Nor was the shock confined to Malaysia. The United States pronounced itself "very distressed." Canada summoned the Malaysian ambassador to register "deep concern." The Australian prime minister openly questioned the independence of the Malaysian judiciary. Closer to home, Malaysia's neighbours were bound by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' policy of not interfering in each other's internal affairs. Even so, Thailand's deputy foreign minister said that while he couldn't comment officially, "as a friend, I am saddened." And a Philippine official, who refused to be identified, was quoted in a news report as saying: "The disproportion between the alleged offence and the potential punishment [casts] some doubt on the protection of Mr. Anwar's human rights in the whole process."

The verdict was condemned by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, and Amnesty International called Anwar "a prisoner of conscience." Newspapers around the world denounced the verdict and sentence as a legal travesty.

It is difficult to differ from that conclusion. The arrest and prosecution of Anwar took place amid economic and political turmoil unleashed by the Asian financial crisis, and after Indonesia's long-time leader, Suharto, had been forced out of office. Anwar was sacked by Mahathir in September 1998 after a falling-out between the two men. He was placed under arrest that same month. In the absence of a power struggle between the two men, there would, no doubt, have been no prosecution, on sodomy or other charges.

Even before the courts had a chance to do their work, Mahathir pronounced himself satisfied that Anwar was guilty. At a press conference, he announced that he had conducted his own investigation. "I actually interviewed the people he sodomized, the women that he had sex with, the driver who brought the women to the place where he met them," Mahathir said. "I cannot accept a man who is a sodomist as leader of the country."

The politically motivated charges were brought by a prosecution that bumbled so badly it would have been comical were the consequences not so tragic. On September 29, 1998, Anwar appeared in court to face charges of corruption and sodomy. He sported a black eye and complained that he had been beaten up while incarcerated. Premier Mahathir publicly suggested that the injuries could have been self-inflicted. Eventually, it transpired that Anwar had been beaten by the chief of police himself during his first night in prison.

The government accused Anwar of having engaged in illegal sexual activities, and of abusing his authority to cover up such acts. Evidence presented included a mattress, allegedly stained with his semen. Then, after months of lurid testimony, the government adopted the highly unusual procedure of amending the charges. Anwar was no longer accused of illegal sexual activities; just of abuse of power. Subsequently, the judge refused to let the defence present evidence to rebut the sex charges. On April 14, 1999, Anwar was convicted and jailed for six years.

Subsequently, Anwar faced another trial. One charge said that Anwar had sodomized his former family driver on "a night in May 1994." This was subsequently changed to "a night in May 1992." But after the defence pointed out that the building in which the offence allegedly took place had still to be built in May 1992, the charge was again amended, this time to "a night between January and March 1993."

A member of Anwar's defence team, Christopher Fernando, has said that Anwar will appeal against the judgment. "We are optimistic that Anwar will be acquitted because there are three judges in the hearing of cases in the Court of Appeal and Federal Court," he said. It is doubtful if many people outside Malaysia share his optimism. One can only hope, for the sake of Malaysia as much as for Anwar, that the optimism of his defence lawyer will prove justified.