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