The following is the full press statement by Anwar Ibrahim today at 3pm regarding the move to charge him for sodomy tomorrow
This morning the Malaysian Election Commission announced nomination and polling day for the by-election that I will contest in Permatang Pauh. I look forward to the campaign period to meet with voters in my home constituency. I invite all Malaysians to join me in this historic campaign to bring forth a New Dawn for Malaysia as we work together to build a more peaceful and prosperous nation.
At the same time we would reiterate our longstanding concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. To this date, the evidence of phantom voters and ballot box stuffing has yet to be addressed by the Election Commission. The poor handling of the use of indelible ink in the General Elections gives all Malaysians, particularly those in Permatang Pauh, reason to be concerned about the conduct of polling this month. I urge the Election Commission to take this opportunity to restore some credibility to its reputation by fulfilling its constitutional mandate to ensure that voting is fair and unbiased.
On a darker note, I regret to say that I fear an enormous injustice is about to be perpetrated upon the Malaysian people, worse than those actions taken in 1988 and 1998 which rendered almost irreparable harm against the institutions of democracy and the rule of law. While some individuals suffered greatly by those actions, the Malaysian people have been the greatest losers.
Tomorrow I will be charged with a crime I did not commit. The real criminals will, in their efforts to humiliate me and to derail the people’s aspirations for transformational change in Malaysia, hide behind a smokescreen created by the government controlled mainstream media.
In May last year, I said that the old saying “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action” could appropriately be modified to “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is systemic government collapse” in reference to the spate of government mishaps under the Abdullah premiership.
I was referring to the spate of embarrassing defects in new government offices in a matter of weeks, viz:
the landslide in Putrajaya (Precinct 9) only inches away from three 15-storey government apartments, damaging 25 cars and evacuating more than 1,500 people from Blocks A, B and C in Phase 11 of the government housing complex on March 22, 2007;the closure of the Immigration Department headquarters in Putrajaya after water flooded the seven-floor building following a failure in plumbing, turning away and evacuating more than 1,000 people on April 11, 2007;
the collapse of a ceiling due to a leaky sprinkler system at the Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Ministry in Putrajaya on April 28, 2007; and
the ceiling collapse in a secretary’s room at the world’s largest court complex at the new Jalan Duta court complex in Kuala Lumpur on April 30, 2007.
This tag “once is accident, twice is coincidence, thrice is systemic government collapse” can again be invoked over the latest government scandal – the third closure with the reappearance of cracks on the Middle Ring Road (MRR) 2 in Kepong, less than two years after an atrociously exorbitant RM70 million repair of the RM238 million project. [Read full article...]
KUALA LUMPUR: Police on Wednesday served notice to PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to appear at the Jalan Duta sessions court here at 10am Thursday.
The notice was served at Anwar’s house, says his lawyer Sankara Nair.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar confirmed that the police had served Anwar with a written notice requesting he present himself at the Jalan Duta Sessions Court here at 10am Thursday to answer to sodomy charges.
It is learnt that Brickfields CID chief Deputy Supt Jude Pereira served the order on Anwar personally at his house in Bukit Segambut at about 12.15pm Wednesday.
“We carried out our investigations in accordance with the existing laws of our country and forwarded our findings to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for their advice.
“The A-G’s Chambers has decided to charge Anwar,” he said.
