Aliran Media Statement

There is a Stench in the Air

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten the stench that filled the air after the verdict and sentence in the Anwar Ibrahim trial was announced. Indeed, the stiff six-year jail term imposed on Anwar Ibrahim has left Malaysians feeling nauseous.

Sentencing him to six years' imprisonment is adding insult to injury. It is incomprehensible and rather unusual that the sentence should begin from the date of conviction instead of 20 September last year, the date of Anwar's arrest. His loss of freedom for almost seven months has been completely overlooked. This means his sentence is closer to seven years.

What compounds the sense of outrage is that Anwar was brutally assaulted and beaten unconscious on the night of his arrest. The sentencing failed to consider this. In contrast, the Home Minister at the time, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is absolved of any responsibility for the infamous black eye while Anwar's cowardly assailant Rahim Noor is still free.

The law did not take its course, but Rahim took the law into his hands. But none of the other police personnel on duty that night has been implicated for not disclosing such blatant abuse of power immediately after it occurred. Instead, a conspiracy of silence shrouded this despicable episode.

The court has made its decision but it has not convinced the court of public opinion. Like it or not, many ordinary Malaysians will agree with Anwar's declaration in court that "this trial has been political persecution hiding behind the cloak of the law." There is a stench in the air, and it is not coming from culled pigs.

Executive Committee
15 April 1999