http://news.smh.com.au/world/malaysian-opposition-leader-anwar-arrested-20080716-3g6j.html

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was arrested Wednesday, police said, over allegations that he sodomised a male aide which threaten to thwart his plan to seize power.

Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she feared for his safety, after the events of a decade ago when he was sacked as deputy premier, beaten up by the police chief, and jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges.

"My concern is for my husband's safety and we want access to see him," said Wan Azizah, a parliamentarian whose Keadilan party leads a three-member opposition alliance.

"I feel apprehensive because my husband is 10 years down the road, he is not that well, he has a bad back, he's had surgery and from a brief conversation, he said they (police) were not gentle," she said.

Earlier Wednesday Anwar dismissed the accusations as a conspiracy to prevent him from seizing power, and said it was a re-run of past events when he was slapped with charges widely seen as politically motivated.

"There's no basis for this whole fabrication and malicious attacks. It is just a repeat of the 1998 script. You can see the pattern," he told reporters. "I will challenge them on every ground."

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Malaysia's police summon political writer

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1169165417/16#16

Here we go again.....

Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim was once a radical under the tutelage of Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad. Together they devised and enforced the racially discriminatory Bumi Putra policy where preferance is given to the Malays over other races in all asp[ects of Malaysian life.

Can a leopard change it's spots? Over the years Anwar Ibrahim has changed his stance calling for unity (although not actually saying it) calling for the abolishment of the Bumi Putra policy. This is where be fell out of Mahathir's favour and have been persecuted since. Although his party is popular and he enjoys a sizable following he is generally not trusted by both sides. He is known as a traitor by his former party collagues and voters aren't sure whether he has really changed his spots or that he is merely politiking the populus vote.

Is he the main opposition, or is he one of two right wing parties vying for dominance?

There are about 20 major political parties and another 20 minor ones in Malaysia. 15 left and right wing parties form a coalition call the National Front or Barisan Nasional. The dominant party within the coalition is the right wing UMNO party which Mahathir was leader and Ibrahim was deputy.

Actually, he is not the opposition. I that that he is still suspended from politics until later this year. Ibrahim declared that he will run for presidency this year when his suspension expires. However, Barisan Nasional called an election for March this year apparently to thwart Ibrahim's return to politics. Ibrahim's wife vowed to resign from her seat should she be relected in the March thereby causing a by-election allowing Ibrahim to run. UMNO fell in the popularity polls and lost a lot of seats in March. Now that Ibrahim's suspension is nearing its end these fresh claims of sodomy has surfaced. Coincidence, huh?

Do you believe that Anwar has really turned his back on his former radicalism? Would he be more moderate than Mahatir?

Is Malaysia's democracy fairly new? It's odd that they have so many parties.

I can't say.... it has been many years since I've visited Malaysia. However, I've kept in touch with my Malaysian friends who keeps me abreast with local news. Certainly, Ibrahim was a vehement radical Muslim whose policies were very pro-Muslims and pro-Malay (Bumi Putera) and divisive along racial lines (particularly against the Chinese). It's hard for me to believe thathe's changed - but then again, as I've said it's been a very long time since I was living and working there.

I personally think that Ibrahim is more radical than Mahathir. Despite his many flaws, Mahathir did a lot of good for Malaysia - infrastructure, technological advances, establishing Malaysia as a major player within S E Asia etc. However, the Bumi Putera policy which was designed to give equal opportunities for Malays without merit was divisive and a failure. Mahathir began to realise this error. Ibrahim (on the surface) said that he no longer believes in it and has called for racial equality.

Malaysia's democracy began when the British granted the Malaya Peninsula independence in 1957. In 1963, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore (later seceded in 1965) joined to form Malaysia.