PM Mahathir, opposition urged to hold talks

PM Mahathir, opposition urged to hold talks

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The party of Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad said on Wednesday it would urge him to open new talks
with opposition leaders aimed at healing rifts within the Muslim
Malay ethnic group, which has long dominated Malaysian politics.

But opposition leaders, including Azizah Ismail, wife of
Mahathir's jailed former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, said that
authorities were sending conflicting signals by calling for Malay
unity while at the same time arresting opponents.

Azizah spoke shortly after two key members of the National
Justice Party that she leads were charged in a northern town,
Kulim, with illegal assembly and rioting in connection with her
party's victory in a state assembly by-election Nov. 29.

In all, nine opposition figures have been charged with
committing such offenses during the election, stemming from
opposition supporters blocking buses they contended were filled
with illegal pro-government voters.

Azizah and other activists have accused Mahathir's government
of waging a vendetta to avenge its loss and embarrassment in a
poll that it threw heavy resources into winning.

The national news agency, Bernama, quoted Deputy Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as saying the United Malays
National Organization, which has dominated politics since
independence in 1957, wants Mahathir to hold talks with Azizah
and Fadzil Noor, head of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic
Party.

Abdullah said that Mahathir, Azizah and Fadzil needed to "face
each other and hold heart-to-heart talks," Bernama reported. "We
cannot see national unity existing if Malays remain divided."

Azizah reacted by saying that the proposed talks should focus
on "national integration," not a single race. Malaysia has large
minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians.

It was the first time that UMNO has endorsed such talks with
Azizah and Fadzil, allies in an opposition coalition formed to
end Mahathir's 19-year rule over this Southeast Asian country.
Their parties are supported largely by Muslim Malays.

Both opposition leaders have criticized the police, who come
under Abdullah's control, for the recent arrests.

On Wednesday, Ezam Mohamad Noor and Azmin Ali, members of the
Justice Party's ruling council, were charged with illegal
assembly and rioting and released on bail of 5,000 ringgit ($
1,315) each.

Police kept watch over hundreds of opposition supporters in
Kulim, shouting anti-Mahathir slogans outside the courthouse. The
crowd dispersed after police threatened to spray chemically laced
water, witnesses said. At least one person was arrested.

Many voters turned away from Mahathir's long-ruling United
Malays National Organization in general elections in November
1999, partly out of sympathy for Anwar, who was sacked as deputy
premier in 1998 and is now serving 15 years in prison for
corruption and sodomy.

Anwar and his supporters claim that the charges were
orchestrated by Mahathir's government, which they accuse of
corruption and undemocratic practices, to stop Anwar from posing
a challenge.

The ousted deputy premier has been hospitalized with a slipped
disc since Nov. 25. Azizah said that his condition has "improved
a bit" after therapy and that he would wait before deciding on
whether to have surgery.

Meanwhile, Azizah testified on Wednesday before a Malaysian
National Human Rights Commission inquiry that a rally she
attended Nov. 5 in support of her husband became chaotic when
police fired tear gas and chemically laced water without warning.

"I could feel the gas and droplets of the water," Azizah said.
"I just kept praying that nobody would get hurt".

Azizah said she learned later that police fired a tear-gas
canister at her car, hitting an aide who was seated on the back
of the vehicle.