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.