[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 14 Sep 1999
Time: 02:22:13
Remote User: -
Anwar's poison claim a ploy: Malaysian PM
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 (AFP) - Allegations by ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim that he was poisoned with arsenic are a ploy to sully the nation's image and gain political mileage, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said, quoted Tuesday. The claims smacked of a plot to arouse the anger of Anwar supporters and instigate them to rally against the government, the premier was cited as saying by The Star newspaper.
Anwar, 52, was sacked and arrested last September amid a falling out with Mahathir over economic policies, and was sentenced to six years jail in April for abuse of power.
Mahathir, 73, charged the allegations were timed to coincide with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in New Zealand and the Commonwealth Law Conference being held here.
"He did this so that his followers would be angry with the government and create riots," he was quoted as saying at the opening of a sports complex late Monday.
"We know why they rioted because APEC was going on in New Zealand and the Commonwealth Law Conference was going to be held here in Malaysia. They wanted to show how dirty their own country is.
"They do not wish to see peace and stability but are willing to tarnish the country for their own political interests," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.
Mahathir skipped the APEC summit which ended Monday. Aides cited his tight domestic schedule ahead of general elections expected in the next few months.
Anwar supporters mounted a rally over the weekend after he was hospitalised Friday when lawyers told his ongoing sodomy trial that traces of arsenic 77 times the normal level was found in his urine sample.
Mahathir said in remarks published Tuesday it was not the first time Anwar had used similar tactics to incite hatred towards the government and seek public support.
In 1974 when Mahathir was then education minister, Anwar led a student demonstration in a northern state after a child had supposedly died of starvation, he said.
"Although the news was not true, the students still went ahead with the demonstration... it's clear that Anwar is the mastermind who is adept at using demonstrations to show off his credibility," he said.
"Anwar likes trouble and uses demonstrations as a means to rise as a leader," he added.
Mahathir noted there had been no such trouble after Anwar was detained under the security act for leading the 1974 demonstration. He later recruited the charismatic Anwar into the government and groomed him as his successor until their bitter split last year.
The premier said it was "only when Anwar was removed from the government in 1998 that the riots started again."
Mahathir also said this was not the first time that Anwar and his supporters had made claims of poisoning, noting that Anwar's wife last year alleged the government would inject the HIV virus into his body.
"It is not the National Front's way to poison or inject HIV virus into our political rivals," he added.