Incarceration does not dint Anwar's high profile

Incarceration does not dint Anwar's high profile

By Nelson Graves

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Even behind bars, Anwar Ibrahim will not fade away.

Malaysian prosecutors said on Tuesday they will pursue a sodomy charge against the former finance minister, who earlier this month was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption.

A new trial will mean more legal headaches for the political insider turned dissident.

But it also gives Anwar and his supporters, led by his increasingly outspoken wife, a new podium from which to denounce Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his government.

The brief session on Tuesday at Kuala Lumpur's High Court thrust Anwar back into the public eye two weeks after he was handed a conviction that will keep him in jail until at least 2003 and out of public office until 2008.

"Not guilty. Malicious prosecution," Anwar told the court when asked to respond to the charge of having sodomized his family's former driver in May 1992. Those were his first words in public since his conviction on April 14.

Eager to take advantage of the new public platform, he turned to reporters in the court and said: "Malicious prosecution. You quote that."

Anwar's saga has also returned to the regional stage. A planned trip by Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, to Manila this week has fanned the embers of a bilateral dispute which had begun to lose its heat.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada irritated Kuala Lumpur last year when he expressed sympathy for Anwar and later met Wan Azizah in the Malaysian capital.

Malaysia's Foreign Ministry took the unusual step on Monday of denouncing Wan Azizah's trip to Manila. She will speak to the Manila Rotary Club and is expected to meet Estrada and former president Corazon Aquino during her visit starting on Wednesday.

Estrada stood firm on Tuesday, saying his country was not meddling. "Everybody is welcome here," he said.

Instead of ignoring Wan Azizah's visit to Manila, the Malaysian government has given it prominence and thrown a pebble into the tranquil waters of regional politics.

"This plays into her hands," a former Anwar associate said of the government's reaction to Wan Azizah's visit.

A High Court judge said he would set a date for the trial on the one sodomy count on May 4.

Diplomats were puzzled by the government's decision to press ahead with a fresh trial. "We all thought this was the last thing they wanted to do," one envoy said. "They were on course to try to bury this thing. It's very confusing to me."

One diplomat surmised that by keeping at least one charge in play, prosecutors could ensure Anwar would not be released on bail while he appeals against his corruption conviction.

Earlier he was denied bail on the grounds he might tamper with witnesses. But as there are no witnesses at the appeal stage, that logic would no longer apply, the diplomat said.

"This could reflect a renewed confidence on the government's part, that the electoral situation is not as bad as they had thought," a diplomat said. "Perhaps they think the opposition is not strong and it is worth it to make the charges stick."

The amended charge alleges that Anwar sodomized his family's former driver, Azizan Abu Bakar, in 1992. Prosecutors amended the charge on Tuesday, changing the year to 1992 from 1994.

Azizan is at the heart of Anwar's legal troubles. The former driver told the High Court during Anwar's 78-day corruption trial that his former employer had turned him into a "sex slave". But the court was told Azizan was offered money to accuse Anwar.

The prosecution decided to put off pursuing four other sodomy charges and the remaining corruption charge.

Three men mentioned in three of the sodomy counts have accused police of forcing them into accusing Anwar, while his former private secretary, who still stands by Anwar, is at the heart of the corruption charge.

The defense, which for weeks during the corruption trial listened as Anwar was accused to sexual misconduct only to have the charges amended to drop the reference to sex, was bracing itself for an all-out attack on Anwar's sexuality.

"I'm sure they'll make as it as unpalatable as possible," a lawyer said.