Mahathir commits contempt of court: Lim

Mahathir commits contempt of court: Lim

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian opposition leader Lim Kit Siang
called Thursday for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to be
investigated for contempt of court over comments on the Anwar
Ibrahim trial.

Statements by Mahathir in New York "undermine the
administration of justice and seriously prejudice a fair trial
for Anwar Ibrahim", Lim said in a statement.

He urged Attorney General Mohtar Abdullah to investigate
whether Mahathir twice committed contempt of court with comments
about Anwar while in New York for the UN General Assembly session
and other meetings.

Anwar, once Mahathir's heir apparent, was sacked as deputy
premier in September 1998 and arrested later that month. In April
he was jailed for six years for corruption and is now on trial
for sodomy.

Lim said Mahathir, in an interview with the Public
Broadcasting System on Monday, said he had "placed a lot of
expectations on him (Anwar) until I discovered he is a homosexual
who has actually pretended to be a very religious person in order
to gain credibility."

The comment was "not only a gross interference with the
administration of justice but clearly prejudicial to the holding
of a fair trial for Anwar," Lim, head of the Democratic Action
Party said.

"If this is not contempt of court, I do not know what is, and
the attorney general must prove that he would uphold the law
without fear or favor, even if the person who had infringed the
law holds the high office of the prime minister."

Lim also accused Mahathir of committing contempt of court in
an interview in Wednesday's Asian Wall Street Journal.

The paper quoted the premier as saying he might not hold a
general election until Anwar's case ended since the courts had
limited what he could say about his former deputy while the trial
was under way, and this may cost him votes.

The comments sent a clear message to the judge to speed up
proceedings, Lim said, describing it as "an intolerable and
contemptuous interference with the administration of justice."