Group urges Mahathir to resign
Group urges Mahathir to resign
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Several hundred people demonstrated
peacefully near a shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday,
shouting slogans for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to quit,
witnesses said.
Their shouts of "Mahathir resign" and "Reformasi" (Reform) at
a busy intersection were greeted by the blaring of car horns in
an apparent show of support by passing motorists. They were
watched by around 50 uniformed policemen.
Witnesses said the police subsequently blocked off roads
leading to the shopping area and asked the protesters to
disperse.
The street demonstration, the first in about two months, is an
echo of the spontaneous movement for reform which grew following
the shock sacking of the then finance minister, Anwar Ibrahim,
last September.
The capital last year saw a wave of sometimes violent street
protests since Anwar was arrested on Sept. 20 on five counts of
corruption and another five of sodomy which he denies.
The Malaysian High Court on Saturday dealt a legal blow to
Anwar, ordering him to enter a defense in his criminal trial on
four corruption charges.
The decision by High Court Judge Augustine Paul means the
trial, which started in November, will continue with Anwar's
lawyers calling witnesses.
The defense has said it plans to call Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad and Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin in what was widely
expected to be a highly political phase of the trial.
"After having considered the evidence relevant to the charges
and the submission of learned counsel, I find that the
prosecution has made out a prima facie case against the accused
on each of the four cases as amended.
"In other words, the prosecution has prima facie established
the ingredients of an offense," Augustine said.
"I therefore call upon the accused to enter upon his defense
on all the four charges as amended," said Augustine, who is judge
and jury in the trial.
Anwar, 51, was sacked and arrested in September, and charged
later that month with five counts each of corruption and sodomy.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. The court has
been examining four of the corruption charges since the trial
began.
As the judge issued his ruling, about 100 supporters of Anwar
stood quietly outside the courthouse in the center of the capital
Kuala Lumpur. They held up two banners -- "Justice, Augustine
Paul" and in Malay, "Justice for All".
Under Malaysia's legal system, after the prosecution had
finished its case earlier this month and both sides had summed up
their positions, Augustine had to choose between dismissing the
charges or ordering Anwar to mount a defense.
Augustine had been expected to order Anwar to offer a defense
as judges rarely throw out charges at this stage of trials.
During the first three months of the trial, the prosecution
called witnesses to support its argument that in August 1997,
Anwar had abused his authority as then deputy prime minister and
finance minister.
The four corruption charges in question allege that Anwar
directed two police officers to obtain written statements from
his former driver and the sister of his former private secretary
denying allegations of sodomy and adultery by Anwar.
Each of the corruption counts carries a maximum penalty of 14
years in jail and a 20,000-ringgit (US$5,000) fine. Each of the
sodomy charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail and
whipping.