Anwar still a priority, says Malaysian opposition party

Anwar still a priority, says Malaysian opposition party

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): The Malaysian opposition party led by Anwar Ibrahim's wife said on Sunday that the jailed former deputy premier remained the priority of its struggle but stressed it was not a single-issue party.

Wrapping-up a three-day annual assembly on Sunday, the Keadilan party also adopted a motion calling for immediate investigation into claims that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad ordered a halt to an anti-corruption inquiry.

The party's deputy president Chandra Muzaffar said Keadilan was not set up "merely to free" Anwar, but he remained an important factor in the party's struggle more than one year after it's formation.

"We give priority to his case because it is the most glaring example of unfairness in the country involving many (public) institutions," he told AFP.

Chandra said the party's goals were broad-based, to fight corruption and seek justice. He said the main task for Keadilan now was to bolster its position to challenge the ruling coalition in the next general election.

"We feel we are on a much stronger wicket now than we were earlier. We certainly have support and we want to build on that multi-ethnic support. That is our biggest challenge," he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in an interview with the local media that he hoped to succeed Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as the country's leader, despite the downfall of Mahathir's previous deputies.

"God willing, I'll be there," Abdullah was quoted as saying in the New Sunday Times newspaper when asked if he saw himself succeeding Mahathir. "Who doesn't want to be promoted," he said.

Mahathir's first deputy Musa Hitam resigned in 1986 over differences of opinion with Mahathir. Ghafar Baba quit in 1993 after he lost the race for deputy president of the ruling United Malays National Organization party to Anwar in party elections that year.

Traditionally the leader of UMNO has served as prime minister while the UMNO deputy president has also been deputy prime minister. Mahathir is president of UMNO.

Abdullah is seen by political analysts as a relatively unambitious politician, willing to bide his time. His lack of charisma, especially compared to Anwar, are seen as being compensated for by his piety and respect from among UMNO's grassroots supporters in rural areas.

Asked if he saw the eventual reunification of UMNO with the country's main Muslim opposition party, Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), Abdullah said: "Now people are talking about it again, for PAS and UMNO to unite."

"We just listen. I think there is room for dialog," he said. PAS split from UMNO in 1951, and now controls the northern states of Kelantan and Terrenganu. The Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition of 14 parties, of which UMNO is the biggest component party, controls the rest of the country's 11 states and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.

Keadilan, formed in April 1999 with an eye logo symbolizing both Anwar's injuries from a beating in custody and the "eye of justice", won five seats in last November's elections.

But it has been derided by the ruling coalition as existing solely to free Anwar.

Anwar was sacked as deputy premier and finance minister in September 1998, and jailed for six years in April last year for abuse of power. He is now on trial for sodomy, which is punishable by a further 20 years.

Earlier, Chandra told reporters that the party passed a last- minute resolution reiterating its call for the attorney-general to probe claims that Mahathir halted an anti-corruption inquiry. "If there is no response from the (attorney general), we want a royal commission of inquiry to be set up to investigate this matter," he said.

The claims were made in court earlier this month by a defense witness in Anwar's sodomy trial.

Shafee Yahaya, former head of the Anti-Corruption Agency, has testified that Mahathir in June 1998 ordered him to drop an inquiry into a senior official who later became central bank governor.

Keadilan and other opposition parties last week urged the attorney-general to investigate the allegations.