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Outcry over arrest of Anwar Ibrahim

SINGAPORE: Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s de facto opposition leader was arrested in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, sparking a political outcry over the government’s suspected move to thwart his rise to power. The arrest, which was denounced by his supporters as an act of “intimidation,” occurred on a complaint to the police that he had sexually assaulted his male aide.

A crowd of protesters, cutting across ethnic lines in multi-cultural Malaysia, gathered outside the police headquarters, where Mr. Anwar was interrogated after being “ambushed” and taken to. There was no untoward incident.

When he was intercepted, he was returning home after making submissions before the Anti-Corruption Agency against top police and law officials for their alleged conduct in a previous case against him on a similar charge 10 years ago. Convicted and sentenced in that case, he was judicially acquitted and released after he spent several years in prison.

Now waiting to enter Parliament, following the end of his poll disqualification relating to another case, Mr. Anwar, formerly Deputy Prime Minister, was actively trying to unseat the present government at the time of his latest arrest.

Lim Kit Siang, Malaysia’s veteran opposition parliamentarian, told The Hindu over the telephone from Kuala Lumpur that the police action was “shocking, unprofessional, provocative, and unfair.”

Mr. Lim pointed out that Mr. Anwar, who was willing to cooperate with the police in the investigation of the complaint against him, was nabbed an hour or so before the deadline set for his reporting at the police headquarters. The opposition People’s Pact alliance would decide its next course of action in the light of how the Anwar case would play out, Mr. Lim indicated.

Mr. Anwar’s wife and Leader of the Opposition, Wan Azizah, called for calm among his supporters, while Home Minister Hamid Albar asserted the police acted according to procedure and the government would not intervene.

Until late in the night, there was no official word about the reported medical examination of Mr. Anwar following his interrogation.

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