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.