Anwar slandered me on 'BBC': Mahathir

Anwar slandered me on 'BBC': Mahathir

Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad has accused his former
deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, of slandering him in an interview on the
BBC's Hardtalk program.

"He told the whole world I am corrupt and made other
allegations," Mahathir told the Berita Harian newspaper in an
interview published on Thursday.

Mahathir sacked Anwar in 1998 and the charismatic politician
was later jailed on charges of abuse of power and sodomy. He was
released in September last year when the sodomy conviction was
thrown out on appeal.

"If the people want to guess who the backstabber is, then this
is the man," Mahathir said.

"I nurtured him and let him enter UMNO (the ruling United
Malays National Organization). I helped him to become youth chief
and to become (party) vice-president.

"He became deputy president, then deputy prime minister -- I
gave him numerous offices but he still slanders me."

Mahathir said Anwar had implied on the BBC program aired this
week that he had been sacked because Mahathir was afraid of him.

"Allegedly I did not want him to replace me because I had
committed many crimes and feared that he would take action
against me if he became prime minister."

Mahathir said one allegation Anwar had made against him was
that he owned 70 percent equity in the private television station
TV3. "It is slander. I (have only owned) about 200 shares in
Malaysian Tobacco, which I bought even before becoming a
minister. That is all I have."

Mahathir, who retired in October 2003 after 22 years in power,
said slander was a sin in Islam.

"That's not good, it's sinful to slander. As someone who
professes to be religious, don't make false accusations -- it's a
big sin. I think he knows that."

Anwar, who is barred from holding public office until 2008
under laws governing convicted criminals, is now a senior
visiting fellow at the Johns Hopkins University in the United
States. -- AFP