Former Driver's Sodomy Testimony at Issue : Witness in Anwar Case Seems to Change Story 
International Herald Tribune
December 8, 1998
Thomas Fuller

A key witness in the trial of Anwar Ibrahim appeared to reverse himself on Monday by stating under cross-examination that he had not been sodomized by the former deputy prime minister.

Defense and prosecution attorneys expressed divergent views about whether the witness, Azizan Abu Bakar, the former driver of Mr. Anwar's wife, had fully understood the questions being put to him.

Previously, he had alleged that he was "a homosexual slave" who was sodomized against his will "on several occasions" in 1992.

On Monday, a defense counsel, Christopher Fernando, asked Mr. Azizan why he continued to visit Mr. Anwar's house after the sodomy allegedly occurred in 1992.

"I put it to you that it was because Anwar Ibrahim did not do anything to you that you continued to visit his house between 1992 and 1997. Otherwise, you would have kept far away from his house," Mr. Fernando said.

Mr. Azizan replied "yes" but then said he wanted the question repeated. "I don't understand what 'not doing anything' means," he said.

Mr. Fernando rephrased the question:

"I put it to you that Anwar Ibrahim did not sodomize you. That's why you kept going to his house between 1992 and 1997." Mr. Azizan replied: "I agree."

Mr. Azizan's testimony lies at the heart of the prosecution's case. The government is trying to prove that Mr. Anwar ordered the police to obtain a written confession from Mr. Azizan denying sexual misconduct.

Mr. Anwar, who was dismissed as deputy prime minister and finance minister in September after months of policy disputes and growing disagreements with Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, has denied all charges of homosexuality and says he is a victim of a government conspiracy. He faces up to 14 years of jail for each of the four charges against him.

"To my mind, the witnesses' credibility has been destroyed," Mr. Fernando said after the court adjourned Monday.

"The prosecution may attempt to re-examine him on that point but it was a very categorical and unequivocal statement."

A lawyer for the prosecution disagreed, saying that there was confusion in the question about timing.

"Some of us understood it to be that he was referring to the events after the sodomy," the lawyer told Reuters. Mr. Azizan could be re-examined by the prosecution as early as Tuesday.

Whatever the outcome, the testimony Monday very likely to confuse many Malaysians who just last week woke up to headlines proclaiming: "I Was a Sex Slave." Until Monday, Mr. Azizan was unequivocal during the trial about the alleged sexual encounters with Mr. Anwar.

"I was frequently called to commit those despicable acts although on many occasions I tried to resist him," he said in a sworn statement offered in court last week that was dated August 1997.

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