News
2005-09-22
Malaysian
ex-leader Mahathir unfazed by threat of defamation suit
Malaysia's former
prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday brushed
aside a threat by his ex-deputy, Anwar Ibrahim,
Malaysia's former
prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday brushed
aside a threat by his ex-deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, to sue him
for calling Anwar a homosexual. "If he wants to sue me
or not, that is his right," Mahathir was quoted as
saying by the national news agency Bernama. "Under the
law, he can do" it. Mahathir had recently reiterated
that he'd fired Anwar in 1988 because Anwar's alleged sexual
orientation made him unfit for office.
Anwar said Tuesday he was "shocked" by
Mahathir's remarks on the issue at a human rights
meeting earlier this month and that he would "not
allow this lie and slander to continue." Anwar's lawyer,
Sankara Nair, said he would send Mahathir a letter this week
demanding a retraction, apology, and damages of $26.7
million. Anwar plans to sue if Mahathir fails to
respond after two weeks, Nair said.
After Anwar was fired, he was arrested, tried
for alleged corruption and sodomy, and sentenced to a
total of 15 years in prison before a successful appeal
against the sodomy charge set him free last year. Anwar
had already served a separate sentence for corruption.
Some critics of the government accused Mahathir
of firing his popular, charismatic deputy due to
Anwar's rising popularity and the two men's
disagreements about how to handle Asia's 1997–1998
financial crisis. Even though Anwar was legally
cleared of sodomy charges, Mahathir said that he
remains confident that the decision to oust him from
Malaysia's ruling party was warranted and that Anwar
had been involved in homosexual acts, which are
illegal in Malaysia, a predominately Muslim country. "This
is not the case [of] whether the court decides," Bernama
quoted Mahathir as saying. "This [sacking Anwar] is
our decision. We are convinced, and we acted on the
information that we had."
Anwar had earlier filed a slander suit against
Mahathir in 1998, when Mahathir described Anwar's
alleged homosexual acts at a news conference. The
Malaysian high court dismissed the suit in 1999, saying it
was a frivolous abuse of the legal process. (AP)
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