Respect our law, Malaysia tells US and Australia

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia Saturday asked the United States, Australia and other critics to respect its laws and not criticise the ongoing trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim charged with sodomising his former aide.

If Australia and the US are civilised nations, then they should not question our actions, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.

The court process has started so it is strange to ask the executive (of a country) to interfere with the judiciary, The Star newspaper quoted him as saying.

Fifty Australian Members of Parliament asked that Malaysia drop the sodomy charge against Anwar in the interest of building confidence in the impartial rule of law in Malaysia.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry has also urged the Malaysian government to ensure Anwar received fair treatment in the trial and accord him the legal protection he is entitled to as an MP and citizen.

Yasins comments came even as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak ruled out a special sitting of parliament to discuss the issue, saying the trial was a private matter between two individuals.

It did not involve government policy and was not a matter of national interest, he said.

The demand by the Australian MPs found support at home from MPs belonging to Ibrahims Parti Keadilan Rajyat (PKR) earlier this week.

Najib called it an opposition ploy to sidetrack the trial and portray it as a political trial.

This does not involve the government as it is something between Saiful (Bukhari Azlan) and Anwar,” he added.

About the US criticism of the trial, Najib said: Fortunately, our ambassador in the US (Jamaluddin Jarjis) has ensured that the truth was told.

This is Ibrahims second sodomy trial. The first one was in 1998, when he was the countrys deputy prime minister. He was dismissed, tried and imprisoned. He was later acquitted.

The US and some other nations have in the past decried the trials as victimisation and harassment of the political opposition.