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."