Show your outrage at U.S., Mahathir's party urges

Show your outrage at U.S., Mahathir's party urges

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's political party urged Malaysians on Wednesday to condemn U.S. Vice President Al Gore's sharp attack on the government.

Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, acting youth chief of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), said in a statement that Malaysians should come to the party headquarters at Putra World Trade Center to sign a statement condemning the "American arrogance and ignorance."

Following what he called the inexcusable and outrageous comment of Gore, UMNO Youth also pushed Malaysians to raise the Malaysian flag and to call the U.S. embassy to register their disgust.

Gore sparked a furious row with Kuala Lumpur after Monday telling a dinner attended by about 1,000 people that Washington had heard the clamor for reform by the "brave people of Malaysia."

Among the guests was the 73-year-old Mahathir, who has been facing growing calls to resign from a reform movement which sprang up after he sacked his former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim in September.

Anwar is facing 10 charges of corruption and sodomy. He denies all of the charges and says they're part of a vendetta orchestrated by his political arch-enemy, Mahathir.

An ally of Mahathir and former advisor on Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) policy on Wednesday took out a full- page advertisement in a leading daily here slamming Gore for insulting his country.

"As a Malaysian, I am fed up of stupid, ignorant kurang ajar idiots insulting my country," wrote Noordin Sophiee in his advertisement in the New Straits Times, using the Malay term for "bad-breeding"

UMNO, the dominant political party in the ruling National Front coalition, has ruled the country since independence in 1957. Mahathir is the party president, while Anwar was the deputy until he was sacked early September.

Meanwhile, the wife of imprisoned political leader Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday thanked the Pacific Rim leaders who've supported her and her husband, and rebuffed criticism from the Malaysian government.

Azizah Ismail, reading from a prepared statement, said: "I do not regard the mere expression of support for Anwar and his cause as interference in the internal affairs of Malaysia."

During the just-ended summit of the APEC forum, Azizah met with top-ranking officials from Australia, Canada and the United States, as well as with Philippine President Joseph Estrada.

Those meetings infuriated the Malaysian government, which said they amounted to unwarranted meddling in domestic affairs.

Since Anwar has been imprisoned during his trial, his 46-year- old wife has taken over as the de facto leader of the "reformasi," or reform, movement he started.

Dressed in a mint green Moslem headscarf, Azizah denounced the Mahathir government, without naming him specifically.

"It is because Malaysians want change and can no longer tolerate authoritarianism and corruption that they are clamoring for reformasi," she said.

"My family and I appreciate very much the moral support shown by APEC leaders for my husband, Anwar Ibrahim," Azizah told reporters.