Opposition parties lawless: Mahathir

Opposition parties lawless: Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused opposition parties Monday of lawlessness after 116 people were arrested in Malaysia's biggest anti-government protest for months, but his opponents criticized police for using "Gestapo" tactics.

Police fired tear gas and chemically-laced water cannon Sunday to break up the protest by supporters of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Police were seen attacking some detainees and at least one officer was assaulted by protesters.

Mahathir, quoted by Bernama news agency, said the trend among the opposition was to break the law and invite action against them.

When this happened they would inform their "friends overseas" who would in turn condemn the government for the alleged absence of freedom, he said.

Several thousand protesters on Sunday marched along a main highway after police declared their planned rally at a nearby site to be illegal and blocked access to the venue.

Mahathir said Anwar's trial lasted one year and he was defended by nine of the country's best lawyers. "And yet they (overseas critics) still say there is no due process.

"We are a free country ... our laws are clear and we fully abide by the law and still they say there is no due process," he said.

Mahathir also criticized the resolution by seven U.S. congressmen calling for a new trial for Anwar.

Anwar was sacked by Mahathir on Sept. 2, 1998 and arrested 18 days later following mass anti-government rallies.

In April 1999, he was jailed for six years for abuse of power and in August this year was imprisoned for nine years for sodomy. The sentences will run consecutively.

Anwar says Mahathir orchestrated a conspiracy to frame him on criminal charges because he was seen as a political threat. The government denies any plot and says courts are independent.

Opposition party leaders at the protest, including Anwar's wife Azizah Ismail, accused the police of over-reacting.

Azizah, who is temporarily confined to a wheelchair, said Sunday that protesters had agreed to disperse peacefully before police advanced.

"I think they (police) were just trying to create disorder so the opposition would be blamed," she told AFP from the scene.

Anwar's brother Rosli said his nephew Khairy suffered a fractured skull from a tear gas canister while moving Azizah's wheelchair out of danger Sunday. He was in a hospital intensive care unit.

Syed Husin Ali, head of the Malaysian People's Party, condemned what he called "Gestapo" tactics by police and said they had beaten up some protesters and damaged vehicles.

In a statement he said police had thrown tear gas canisters into a truck where about 40 detainees were being held.

Syed Husin said Malaysia was becoming an authoritarian state. "Power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of one man who is steadily showing signs of becoming a paranoid dictator," he said in reference to Mahathir.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the Democratic Action Party, condemned the attack on the police officer but said police over- reacted to the situation in a "trigger-happy and callous" way.

The 116 detainees were being held in a police station parking lot and had not been allowed to see lawyers as of mid-afternoon Monday, one lawyer said.

Police, who have wide powers to ban any gathering, have said those attending the rally could be jailed for up to a year.

National police chief Norian Mai said late Sunday he did not rule out the arrest of opposition leaders. "We will investigate the extent of their involvement in the illegal gathering before taking any action," he said.