Mahathir says Azizah a puppet of Manila

Mahathir says Azizah a puppet of Manila

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad on Saturday accused the wife of his jailed former deputy
of seeking the support of the Philippines to bring about
political change in Malaysia.

Mahathir said Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who heads a political
movement for her husband Anwar Ibrahim, had become a puppet of
foreign leaders like Philippine President Joseph Estrada.

"Not Estrada, or leaders of foreign nations, using local
puppets, have the right to decide the nation's future,"
Malaysia's Bernama news agency quoted Mahathir as saying.

"We will defend the country's sovereignty until our last
breath," he told a political rally.

On Friday, Mahathir said Malaysia's independence might end if
its people relied on outside help to solve internal problems.

"It appears that there are people who think that foreigners
should interfere in our domestic affairs," he said.

"We thought that our country is free and independent and
Malaysians will determine the fate of the Malaysian people
themselves, but we find that they are keen to get support from
foreign countries."

Azizah enraged Mahathir's government during a visit to Manila
by telling Filipino and foreign businessmen in a speech on
Thursday that Mahathir was losing his grip on power.

Azizah called Mahathir "a once-respected prime minister who
has lost all sense of perspective, all sense of right and wrong
and all sense of reality".

Referring to the "people's power" revolt that toppled former
Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, she said the
Philippines had shown that a dictator could be overthrown.

But Azizah added: "It must be legal, we must not talk about
violent means. We would rather do it through elections."

She then had a private meeting with Estrada. The president,
who had incensed Malaysia earlier by supporting Anwar after he
was sacked and indicted, said he had written to Anwar in jail.

Malaysia and its neighbors have an unwritten policy of not
meddling in each other's internal affairs.

Estrada tried to downplay his meeting with Azizah, saying it
was purely private and personal.

But Mahathir did not appear convinced and reminded Estrada of
Malaysia's silence thus far on matters involving the Philippines.

"There are many Filipinos seeking our help, but we don't want
to meddle in the domestic affairs of other people," he said
without elaborating.

Anwar is serving a six-year jail term for corruption and is to
face another trial for alleged sodomy.

The former deputy premier and finance minister says he is a
victim of political persecution and was framed to prevent him
from exposing corruption and nepotism in government. Mahathir
said he sacked Anwar last September because he was morally unfit.