Anwar seeks reforms as he gets hero's welcome in KL

Anwar seeks reforms as he gets hero's welcome in KL

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

A defiant Anwar Ibrahim pledged to fight on for reform in
Malaysia as he returned to a hero's welcome on Sunday after
spinal surgery in Germany, saying Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi fell short of expectations during his first year in power.

Hundreds of supporters defied a police ban to greet the former
deputy premier at the airport, chanting his battle cry of
"Reformasi" (reform) and shouting "Long live Anwar!"

Some 1,000 gathered later at his home in an upmarket Kuala
Lumpur suburb. Anwar told them his release last month after six
years in jail was just the start of a new chapter in the struggle
to reform a government which he says is corrupt.

"I want to say thank you to you all but let me stress our
problems are many. Don't think now that Anwar is free, everything
is settled," he said in a 20-minute speech to supporters gathered
in his garden, in the street and perched on the walls around his
house.

"Anwar's release is the start of a new chapter. This chapter
is one of defending the rights of all Malaysians, of all races,"
he said.

Anwar offered the prime minister his support on Sunday to
clean up corruption, reflecting the nation's new political
landscape.

Anwar made the conciliatory remark at his first news
conference in Malaysia since rushing overseas for medical
treatment last month after his release from almost six years in
prison on what he called trumped-up charges.

"We will try to make arrangements tomorrow morning (to meet
the prime minister) and to express similar views, to endorse the
commitment in the war against corruption and ensuring the
separation of powers, including a free judiciary...," Anwar told
reporters and hundreds of supporters at his home in the capital.

But Anwar, looking much fitter after surgery in Germany for a
debilitating back illness, said he would remain in opposition and
felt Abdullah, a year into his reign, had not done enough to
fulfill his anticorruption pledge.

"I have also expressed my reservations before -- what is done
is short of the pronouncements. Notwithstanding that, I will
continue to assure him of our support," Anwar said.

He said he would thank Abdullah for his release but has no
intention of rejoining the ruling United Malays National
Organization (UMNO). He stressed he would stay in the opposition
camp and in the National Justice Party (Keadilan) headed by his
wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Anwar, heir apparent to Mahathir before being sacked in 1998,
was later jailed on charges of corruption and sodomy which he
said were cooked up to prevent him challenging Mahathir for the
premiership.

Anwar said some of his supporters had initiated moves to seek
a pardon for him from the king that would let him enter politics
immediately, but such a quest was not an admission of guilt.

"I am innocent of these vicious allegations against me," he
said.

He had already served a sentence for allegedly corruptly using
his position to cover up charges of sexual misconduct when the
country's highest court overturned his separate conviction for
sodomy on Sept. 2 and set him free.

Anwar criticized the massive police operation at the airport
to prevent his supporters turning out to welcome him, saying:
"They (his supporters) brought flowers, not bullets".

Police set up six roadblocks on the way to the airport outside
Kuala Lumpur but more than 500 supporters turned up, many taking
the high-speed train from the capital.

Keadilan vice president Tian Chua said his glasses were broken
when police bundled him out of the arrival hall.

"This is another form of intimidation and harassment by the
government," said another party official Azmin Ali. "It is
obvious that Anwar is still a real threat to UMNO and the
government."

Anwar, accompanied by his wife, looked tired but smiled and
waved at supporters as he walked unaided to his car after years
of appearing in court in a wheelchair and neck brace. He says his
back was injured during a police beating after his arrest in
1998.

He said he would take time to recuperate and tour the country.