Foreign leaders cautioned on meeting Anwar

Foreign leaders cautioned on meeting Anwar

Reuters, Putrajaya, Malaysia

Malaysia's prime minister cautioned foreign leaders on Monday about meeting the country's most prominent opposition figure, former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who is on an international tour.

"The foreign leaders... should also know what is right for them to do and what is not right," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told Reuters in an interview, when asked about Anwar's attempts to meet some foreign leaders.

"Normally, our behavior has been that if a leader of the opposition asks for an appointment, we become naturally more cautious because we have to think of the feelings of the government in power," he said. "That's something that we always have in mind."

Anwar, released from almost six years in jail in September, has begun a series of planned international trips, seeking to call on foreign leaders and rekindle key relationships he built up before his imprisonment, while still a cabinet minister.

Anwar arrived in Indonesia on Monday night for a visit he hopes will lead to a meeting with the newly elected president, a senior aide, Ezam Nor, said, adding that a dinner with Vice President Jusuf Kalla was confirmed for Thursday night.

Organizers of the trip are seeking a meeting between Anwar and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday.

Anwar recently visited South Africa, where he met former President Nelson Mandela, Nor said by telephone from Jakarta.

Anwar was jailed in 1999 on what he called trumped-up charges of sodomy and corruption after he fell out with Malaysia's then prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, and was sacked from government.

Anwar led anti-government street protests before he was arrested, starting a political "Reformasi" movement that called for an end to corruption and for an independent judiciary. He was finally released after a court overturned his sodomy conviction.

Malaysia's ruling party is especially wary of Anwar's return to political life, even though he is barred from standing for political or parliamentary office until April 2008.