President Bush Unleashed "Slaughter and Humiliation" in Iraq, According to Malaysia's Most Famous Convict, Anwar Ibrahim

April 11, 2003

by Richard S. Ehrlich

BANGKOK, Thailand (EPN) -- President Bush unleashed "slaughter and humiliation" in Iraq, according to Malaysia's most famous convict, Anwar Ibrahim, who issued the condemnation while appealing his punishment for sodomy and corruption.

America's "moral high ground is crumbling," Mr. Anwar warned, "and the sympathy and goodwill gained after the September 11 tragedy are dissolving because of Washington's blatant disregard of world opinion and international law in waging war against Iraq.

"Surely, in casting aside diplomacy and choosing destruction, slaughter and humiliation in order to 'liberate the Iraqi people' and 'rid the world of weapons of mass destruction,' the Bush administration should have expected the visceral international anger it is now facing."

Mr. Anwar was Malaysia's deputy prime minister until 1998 when he was fired, arrested and put on trial for sodomy and corruption -- charges he tried in vain to deny.

Tens of thousands of Malaysians protested in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, battling riot police in bloody clashes that paralyzed the country.

Then-President Bill Clinton's administration expressed dismay that human rights were being trampled in the Southeast Asian nation which has a 56 percent Muslim population.

U.S., European and other governments also complained that Mr. Anwar was initially caged under Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows years of imprisonment without trial.

He was severely beaten while in custody.

Ironically, the U.S. has since turned a blind eye to Malaysia's use of the ISA which has been described as a powerful weapon against international terrorism.

At the time of Mr. Anwar's arrest, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad shrugged off the bloodshed in the streets and the outcry by London-based Amnesty International and other human rights groups, and pressed ahead with lengthy trials against his former colleague.

Mr. Anwar's wife and daughter, meanwhile, climbed upon the political stage to rouse supporters, resulting in a temporary alliance among fundamentalist Islamic groups, Christian Chinese and others to free him and topple the prime minister.

They failed.

Today, Mr. Anwar shuffles between prison and court, trying to gain freedom and clear his name.

He is serving a 15-year sentence -- nine years for sodomy and six years for abuse of power.

Mr. Anwar is Muslim and some charges were especially damning, including one widely published at the time:

"You, on one night in the month of March 1993...in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, voluntarily committed carnal intercourse against the order of nature against one Munawar Ahmad Anees, by introducing your penis into his anus, and you have, therefore, committed an offense under section 377B of the Penal Code."

His adopted brother, Sukma Dermawan, 37, and 51-year-old former speechwriter Anees, both confessed -- and were found guilty -- of allowing Mr. Anwar to sodomize them. They were sentenced to six months in jail, but the validity of their testimony was later questioned.

"I am deeply disturbed by the verdicts handed down in Malaysia in the case of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his adopted brother," then-Vice President Al Gore said.

"The show trial the two men were forced to endure mocked international standards of justice...I hope the appeals process will overturn these verdicts," Mr. Gore said at the time.

Mr. Anwar initially faced a total of five charges of sodomy with four men, plus five counts of "graft" and abuse of power. Anwar pleaded innocent to all 10 counts. New charges of "sexual misconduct" with females were later added.

Over the years, the international spotlight he once enjoyed has shifted, but he has now suddenly popped back up with a 550-word statement about the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

In an apparent dig at Malaysia's prime minister and the sodomy and corruption charges which had enthralled his countrymen, Mr. Anwar wrote:

"It would seem that Third World autocrats no longer hold exclusive claim to media ineptness, distortion and deceit, draconian law and repressive acts, disdain for the popular will and jingoistic patriotism.

"United States-bashing has now become vogue, vociferous and rancorous. The global outrage is justified."

His anti-war stance echoed his nemesis, Prime Minister Mahathir -- who also denounced the war. But Mr. Anwar said many leaders were just whipping up anti-Americanism to distract the downtrodden.

"Once can almost hear the glee of autocrats as they pander to it, for it deflects attention from domestic issues. Indeed in most countries, the mainstream media and intellectuals remain incredibly mute with regard to the atrocities and abuses at home."

Mr. Anwar wrote the essay during his recent appearance at the Court of Appeal in Kuala Lumpur, according to the latest edition of the Hong Kong-based magazine Far Eastern Economic Review which published it.

Now in his mid-50s, Mr. Anwar was regarded as a "moderate Muslim intellectual" and had been on track to be the next prime minister before his arrest.

Copyright by Richard S. Ehrlich

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