Anwar's Fate/Malaysian Judiciary at Issue : Explosive Trial Nears Its End 
International Herald Tribune
June 26, 2000
Thomas Fuller

After more than 100 courtroom sessions punctuated by heated arguments and shouting matches, the most politically explosive trial in Malaysia's modern history is close to a verdict.

Judge Arifin Jaka has ordered lawyers for and against Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister, to submit their closing arguments in writing.

The question of whether Mr. Anwar, once the country's second most powerful man, is guilty of sexual misconduct has split Malaysia's dominant ethnic group, caused many voters to abandon their deep allegiances to the ruling party and stirred up a cacophonous debate on the independence of the judiciary.

Details of the alleged sex acts, often splashed on the front pages of the country's leading newspapers, have jolted the sensibilities of a nation that likes to think of itself as socially conservative.

The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Anwar committed sodomy — or, in the official legal terminology, "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" — with his wife's former chauffeur, Azizan Abu Bakar.

The offense is alleged to have happened "one night between the month of January and March 1993 at about 7:45." But the wording of the charge has proved one of the most controversial facets of the case.

To howls of protest from defense lawyers, the government has twice changed the date when the alleged offense took place. Malaysian law allows prosecutors to amend charges at any point in a trial.

Prosecutors initially accused Mr. Anwar of sexual misconduct "one night in the month of May 1994." They subsequently changed this to "one night in the month of May 1992."

Government lawyers said that there had been a "typographical error" in the original charges. Defense lawyers pointed out that the apartment building where the offense was alleged to have happened had not been fully constructed on the date when the alleged event occurred.

"Isn't this an indication that something is amiss?" Karpal Singh, a defense lawyer, asked the judge, soon after the second change was announced. "This is clearly an abuse of process of this court by the attorney general."

Defense lawyers argued that the vague nature of the third charge — "sometime between January and March 1993" — made it difficult for Mr. Anwar to defend himself.

"Right from the beginning we don't have specific dates, just very general charges," said Raja Aziz Addruse, who was at the time the lead defense counsel for Mr. Anwar, but later left the case. "Surely we must have the day?"

Lawyers applied to have the case dismissed on the grounds that the attorney general had acted in "bad faith" in amending the charges.

But Judge Arifin responded by saying he was "more than convinced" that the attorney general had acted properly. "To me," the judge said, "this is just a simple amendment of a charge." The judge ordered the trial to continue and told prosecutors to begin calling witnesses.

The government has centered its case around testimony by Mr. Azizan, the driver with whom Mr. Anwar is accused of engaging in a forbidden act.

Mr. Azizan was called to the stand and asked to recount in detail his alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Anwar. Some of this testimony was ruled too lurid by the judge and was thus given in a courtroom closed to the public.

The attorney general, Mohtar Abdullah, later summarized Mr. Azizan's evidence in this way: "Azizan has described in clear, lucid, graphic detail, the lurid, unnatural acts that were done in that bedroom," Mr. Mohtar told Judge Arifin.

In addition to Mr. Azizan's testimony, the prosecution is relying on a confession made by Sukma Darmawan, Mr. Anwar's adopted brother, who is being tried for sodomy simultaneously with the former deputy prime minister.

Mr. Sukma was arrested in September 1998 on suspicion of having had "homosexual relationships." After more than a week in detention, he allegedly confessed to a magistrate that he had engaged in sodomy with Mr. Anwar. He was convicted and jailed for six months.

Mr. Sukma also said in his alleged confession that he had introduced Mr. Anwar to Mr. Azizan and that the two had had sex. "I occasionally saw them in the act," Mr. Sukma said in the confession.

Cross-examined by the defense in the current trial, Mr. Sukma said that his confession had been coerced and followed 80 hours of interrogation by police. He said that the police had boasted about how easy it was to hire a professional hit man.

"The police said, 'To them bullets are very cheap, only 45 sen each,"' Mr. Sukma said, referring to the Malaysian currency. Forty-five sen is the equivalent of about 12 cents. - MR. ANWAR denies all the allegations of sodomy. His lawyers called to the stand people Mr. Anwar had met with during the three-month period and submitted a copy of Mr. Anwar's passport to show the number of days he was out of the country. A defense lawyer said they had shown an alibi for ''nearly every day'' of the three-month period. As for the allegations of a political conspiracy against Mr. Anwar the defense called several key witnesses: - Jamal Abdul Rahman, a U.S. citizen who chauffeured Mr. Anwar during his trips to Washington and New York, told the court that a Malaysian diplomat named Mustafa Ong had offered him a share of $200,000 if he smeared Mr. Anwar Mr. Rahman told the court that in September 1998 Mr. Ong had asked him whether Mr. Anwar had ever made any sexual passes at him. ''I said, 'You must be joking,''' Mr. Rahman recounted to the court. ''He said if I say that he'' — Mr. Anwar — ''made sexual passes at me, 'We can make some money,''' Mr. Rahman said. ''Then he said 'Why don't you say you brought some girls and boys for him?''' - The defense attempted to show ''bad blood'' between Mr. Anwar and top government officials including Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad and Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, whom Mr. Anwar says helped lead the campaign to unseat him. Mr. Anwar spoke of policy differences with Mr. Mahathir and said the prime minister's top aides felt threatened by him while he was still deputy prime minister. Mr. Anwar testified that he had pointed out to Mr. Mahathir alleged cases of corruption involving cabinet ministers shortly before he was dismissed in September 1998. ''The prime minister felt uneasy and was angry when I repeatedly raised the allegations,'' Mr. Anwar said. - Azmin Ali, the brother of the woman who first accused Mr. Anwar of sexual misconduct, was called to the stand. Mr. Azmin, who is also Mr. Anwar's former political secretary, said that his sister, Ummi Hafilda Mohamad Ali, had admitted to him that she had been paid for fabricating evidence. ''She confirmed that she was promised money and contracts to fabricate evidence,'' Mr. Azmin said. ''As her brother, I advised her to stay away from the conspirators. She told me she can't because she has committed herself and some money has been paid to her.'' - The defense also cross-examined Mr. Azizan, the former chauffeur. Under intense questioning he told the court that the police had ordered him to amend the date of his alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Anwar. Christopher Fernando, a defense counsel, asked Mr. Azizan whether he had been instructed to change the dates to between January and March 1993. ''Yes,'' Mr. Azizan replied, giving the name of the police officer who allegedly ordered him to do it. Judge Arifin told lawyers involved in the trial that he would issue his judgment ''at an appropriate time.''

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