29 April 1999

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- When Malaysia's ousted deputy prime minister was on trial on corruption charges, the courtroom resounded with so much graphic sexual detail that it shocked many Malaysians.

Now that Anwar Ibrahim is going on trial on sodomy charges -- a crime in conservative Malaysia -- many Malaysians shudder at how sordid next month's trial could get.

On Tuesday, a High Court judge ruled that Anwar, once Malaysia's second-most powerful man, will go on trial next month for allegedly sodomizing his family driver in 1992. If convicted, Anwar faces up to 20 years in prison and whipping with a rattan cane.

Despite Malaysia's Western influences and booming development, its Muslim society remains conservative and open discussions of sex are rare.

No movie is screened until censors have snipped out even hints of nudity and sexual language. A debate underway about whether to introduce sex education in schools has attracted many opponents.

But since last November, mainstream Malaysian newspapers have published page after page of lurid testimony about how Anwar performed alleged homosexual acts.

Anwar was sentenced April 14 to six years in prison, after a judge found him guilty on four counts of abuse of power. The prosecution claimed Anwar had illegal sex with men and women and then forced police to cover up his misdeeds.

Anwar has repeatedly denied the charges, saying they were an orchestrated effort to end his challenge to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's 18-year hold on power.

During his corruption trial, a mattress prosecutors said was semen-stained by Anwar and his cohorts was hauled into the courtroom.

The star prosecution witness, driver Azizan Abu Bakar, recounted in shocking detail an alleged threesome with Anwar and his adopted brother, Sukma Dermawan, who is also facing trial for sodomy.

``It's incredible that our newspapers are willing to describe things like sodomy in such great detail,'' said Jaya Pomy, a 24-year-old executive.

``My children asked me what words like (sodomy) mean, and it was uncomfortable for me trying to explain things to them,'' said Adnan Hussein, a professor of communications at the University of Science in the northern city of Penang. ``But I knew I couldn't shield them from such details. The newspaper was on the table, they could pick it up and read it.''

Lim Kit Siang, an opposition leader in parliament who has denounced Anwar's prosecution as biased, predicted the new trial will provoke ``disgust and revulsion'' among Malaysians.

He and other political observers say the second trail is a part of a ritual shaming of Anwar by a government intent on proving that Mahathir's one-time protege is immoral and should be behind bars.

``The government feels it has to prove its case. To me, it is going back to convince the public'' about the sex charges, said Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Center.

Still, Abdul Razak said he was surprised because holding another trial means Anwar will again be in court -- and in the public eye.

``People would have forgotten Anwar, but now there will be another round. It will just perpetuate Anwar,'' he said.

Source : Obtained from Gay Wired - Daily News Briefs