Malaysia’s ruling coalition faces a tough battle in a by-election to be contested by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, but the government is not threatened, the deputy prime minister said yesterday.
Anwar’s wife resigned on Thursday as lawmaker of the Permatang Pauh constituency in northern Malaysia to make way for her husband to contest the resulting by-election that must be held within 60 days.
“We leave it to the people of Permatang Pauh to decide,” Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters. “I think we have to be realistic. It’s going to be a tough constituency. But we have to do our best.”
The development comes amid political turmoil surrounding Anwar, the leader of a resurgent opposition who despite facing a sodomy accusation has vowed to bring down the government with parliamentary defections and take over as prime minister by Sept. 16.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Anwar is free to contest the by-election, but warned that he cannot use it to escape possible prosecution in the sodomy case.
“He cannot seek refuge,” Abdullah was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama. “The authorities will enforce the law if there is a case against him.”
The Election Commission said it would announce a date for the by-election on Wednesday.
The government has a 30-seat majority in the 222-member parliament, but Anwar has said he is able to convince enough lawmakers to switch sides to bring down the coalition.
Najib dismissed Anwar’s threat.
“No, the government is not threatened. We have enough majority,” Najib said.
Anwar’s plans hit a snag in June when he was accused of sodomizing a young male aide. Anwar has dismissed the allegation as a political conspiracy. Police completed their investigation into the case on Thursday, and Anwar’s aides say he could be arrested as early as Monday. Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is punishable by up to 20 years in jail in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
It is the second time in a decade that Anwar has faced such an accusation. The first time was in 1998, when he was deputy prime minister and was locked in a power struggle with then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS