KL opposition warns of violence during election

KL opposition warns of violence during election

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Opposition parties and supporters of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday accused one another of provoking violence as the campaign for the crucial Nov. 29 general election heated up.

A spokesman for the four-party opposition coalition said some supporters of the ruling National Front, armed with traditional machetes called parang, had threatened anti-government activists and even beaten one of them.

At a news conference, the opposition parties produced Ahmad Farid bin Ismail, 24, who said the black scars on his face were from a beating by activists of Mahathir's United Malays National Organization, the dominant partner in the ruling coalition.

Ahmad said he was attacked by 20 men on Sunday morning in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. The men were wearing badges and clothes bearing UMNO insignia, he told reporters.

"In the last two days, there have been a dozen or so cases," said Raja Petra, spokesman for the National Justice Party, which is headed by the wife of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

A snap general vote was called by Mahathir last week, catching the opposition by surprise. Tensions are expected to be high during the campaign because the opposition says it is determined to deny Mahathir his traditional two-third majority in Parliament.

Mahathir, 73, Asia's longest-serving ruler, faces a united opposition for the first time. The Justice party banded together with three other groups to capitalize on the wave of anti- Mahathir sentiments caused by the sacking and arrest of the Anwar last year. The ousted deputy prime minister is serving a six-year jail term for corruption and facing a sodomy trial

Deputy Home Minister Azmi Khalid accused opposition parties of creating tensions. He said some people had entered forcibly into a National Front election office, resulting in a skirmish between activists on Saturday. There were no report of injuries.

The Election Commission on Tuesday accused opposition supporters in states where campaigning is expected to be most fierce of tearing down flags and posters put up by supporters of ruling coalition.

"We've found tattered flags and posters floating in the river," Election Commission Secretary Ahmad Omar told The Associated Press. "We believe this was the work of irresponsible opposition supporters."

Ahmad said this had occurred over the past few days in the eastern Kelantan and Terengganu states, where Mahathir plans to concentrate his National Front's election campaign.

The culprits could be charged under Malaysia's Police Act, Ahmad added.

Kelantan is the only Malaysian state not governed by Mahathir's coalition. The state came under the rule of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party in 1990.

Political analysts believe Mahathir could face his toughest electoral battle in Kelantan, where majority Malay Muslims are often warned by religious teachers that Mahathir's government has abandoned many Islamic principles.

Meanwhile, the sex trial of Malaysia's jailed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim has been postponed because the judge is ill and not because of elections later this month, court officials said on Tuesday.

Anwar's sodomy trial was postponed indefinitely on Monday in a move that could take the charismatic ex-minister out of the public eye in the run-up to the Nov. 29 polls and remove a headache for Mahathir during the campaign.

Defense lawyers said the High Court gave no reason for the suspension when it was communicated to them in a letter. But High Court officials said Judge Arifin Jaka was ill and resting at home.

"The judge is not well and has a medical certificate to stay away from work until November 20," a High Court official told Reuters.

Anwar's trial is central to Malaysian politics as he is the opposition's candidate to become prime minister if the four parties win the elections.