KL condemns Albright for comments against Mahathir

KL condemns Albright for comments against Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's foreign minister has
slammed U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for her
comments about the conviction of jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim
and questioning Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's leadership, a
news report said on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Albright had gone
beyond the accepted norms of diplomacy by displaying a "rather
patronizing" attitude by personally attacking Mahathir and
telling Malaysians how they should elect their leaders, The Star
daily reported.

"This is meddling. If her intention is to tell people that
they should not choose Mahathir, that is trying to interfere in
our election process," Syed Hamid said in an interview to the
daily.

Albright said last week that the international community was
concerned that Anwar, the former deputy prime minister, had not
been dealt with fairly by the authorities and also noted that
Mahathir had done many things that did not serve the interest of
Malaysians.

Albright's comments came Saturday, four days after a High
Court judge convicted Anwar of sodomy and sentenced him to nine
years in prison atop the six years he is serving for corruption.

Anwar, 53, who was sacked by Mahathir and arrested in
September 1998, denies all the charges, saying they were
masterminded by Mahathir to end his career.

Syed Hamid said Albright's remarks would have been regarded as
"fair comment" if she merely noted that she was saddened and
disagreed with Anwar's conviction because of their personal
friendship.

"But what right has she got to tell us about the type of
leaders that we should choose?" he asked.

"We know our position but it does not mean anyone can bully
and tell us what they like."

Malaysian authorities have repeatedly criticized the United
States, Canada, European nations and international rights groups
for condemning the judiciary's handling of Anwar's sodomy and
corruption trials.

In a related development, Malaysia's appeal court on Tuesday
reserved judgment on whether Anwar -- jailed last week for sodomy
-- has the right to pursue a 100-million-ringgit ($26million)
defamation suit against Mahathir.

After hearing two hours of arguments by lawyers representing
the premier and his former deputy, the three judges said they
needed time to study the submissions.

"We will duly inform you (of the date)... We will give a
written judgment," said Justice Ahmad Fairuz.

Anwar, who was jailed last Tuesday for nine years after being
convicted of sodomizing the former family chauffeur, was not
present in court.

His sodomy sentence follows a six-year jail term he received
in April 1999 for abuse of official powers and could keep him
behind bars until 2014.

Anwar filed his lawsuit in January 1999. He said Mahathir, at
a press conference shortly after sacking him in September 1998,
had falsely and maliciously accused him of committing an immoral
act.

In his statement of defense in March 1999, Mahathir contended
he spoke the words as prime minister on an occasion of qualified
privilege (which confers immunity from a libel action unless the
statement is deemed to have been made maliciously) and after due
investigation into the matter.

On Aug. 30 last year High Court judge R.K. Nathan struck out
the suit with costs on the grounds that it was "frivolous,
vexatious and an abuse of the process of the court".

Nathan said Mahathir was duty bound to inform the public about
Anwar's sacking.

But Anwar's lawyer Karpal Singh told the appeal court Tuesday
that Nathan was "wrong in summarily striking out" Anwar's case
based on Mahathir's affidavit.