A day after being freed from prison in a dramatic court ruling, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim obtained a passport yesterday to travel to Germany for specialized back surgery and tested the waters for a comeback in Malaysian politics.
In constant pain from a back injury, due partly to a police beating he suffered after his arrest in 1998, the wheelchair-bound Anwar was taken to the passport office yesterday morning. Aides said he hoped to fly on a jet provided by the Saudi government to Munich, Germany, late yesterday night.
Anwar deflected questions on his future but clearly was keeping all doors open, praising both the opposition parties that supported him during his six-year imprisonment and the new prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, widely seen as having allowed the courts to free him.
Abdullah's son-in-law paid a visit overnight and conveyed the prime minister's regards, Anwar told reporters.
"Prime Minister Abdullah was more concerned about my medical condition," Anwar said. "There was no other issue discussed. I truly appreciate that. At least, there is civility in political differences."
Anwar has contrasted Abdullah's willingness to allow him to be freed to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who retired and handed power to Abdullah 10 months ago.
"If it was Mahathir, I would have been finished off," Anwar told supporters Thursday night.
Mahathir, 78, was implacably hostile to Anwar after firing him Sept. 2, 1998, in a power dispute triggered by policy differences over the Asian economic crisis. Anwar refused to go quietly and led tens of thousands of people in the streets calling for Mahathir's ouster.
Anwar was arrested on security grounds Sept. 18, 1998, and beaten while chained to a cell bed by the national police chief. He was later charged with sodomy and corruption and convicted in trials widely seen as unfair. The United States and international human rights groups considered him a political prisoner.
The combative Mahathir was defiant after Thursday's ruling.
"I'm not going to lose any sleep," Mahathir told reporters. "I still believe that he's guilty. My conscience is clear."
A panel of the Federal Court voted 2-1 to overturn Anwar's conviction on sodomy, freeing him from at least five more years in prison. But Anwar remains barred from elected office for five years for a conviction of corruption, which still stands, though he has served the sentence.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS