|
Malaysian Police Quiz Opposition Leader
by Kazi Mahmood
KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (IslamOnline) - Police on Friday quizzed Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the leader of the National Justice Party (NJP) and wife of jailed leader Anwar Ibrahim, for sedition over recent clashes occurring in the slums of Kuala Lumpur.
Wan Azizah had earlier told reporters she would be the target of a police probe into the alleged sedition by four opposition leaders, all members of the Alternative Front (AF).
The alliance made a statement questioning the veracity of the police reports on the number of deaths and wounded in racial clashes involving ethnic Indians and Malays in Klang Lama, off Kuala Lumpur.
News agencies reported on Saturday that the leader was interviewed by several police officers that went to Wan Azizah's house in a Bukit Damansara.
Police spent three hours questioning her on the statements made by the AF but did not disclose what else they wanted from the first woman leader of a political party in Malaysia.
Wan Azizah told the press in Kuala Lumpur that the police questioned her as a witness.
Three police personnel, led by Assistant Superintendent Baljit Singh, arrived at Wan Azizah's residence here about 5.30 pm to record her statement.
She said that the police wanted to know about the NJP's statement regarding the Kampung Medan clashes following a report lodged by senior investigating officer Assistant Superintendent R. Ratnakumar on March 15th.
Police are expected to question Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) secretary-general Nasarudin Mat Isa on Saturday, while Party Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) president Syed Husin did not receive any indication when he will be quizzed.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock told AFP police questioned him on the matter last Saturday. He did not reveal what police wanted.
The police have said they could charge the four opposition figures under the Sedition Act. The opposition have criticized the Act as a remnant of a past colonial era still being used by Mahathir Mohamad's government to muzzle opponents.
In an interview with IslamOnline, Wan Azizah said she was expecting to be quizzed by police.
"I am waiting. I do not know when they will come but I am ready to face the questioning," she said.
The entire text of IslamOnline's interview with Wan Azizah shall be posted by Tuesday.
Wan Azizah is being questioned on sedition charges for statements she made in 1998 concerning the jailing of Anwar Ibrahim and possible threats against his life in jail.
Anwar Ibrahim was then held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) with rumors on the Internet speculating that he would be injected with the HIV virus by aMalaysian authorities.
"I heard that, and I made a statement on the heat of the situation. What would you do if you heard members of your family was in such danger?" she asked.
PRM president Syed Husin last week urged police not to use the sedition act to threaten the freedom of AF leaders. He said that police should be cautious in brandishing the act, which the AF calls an obsolete tool in the hands of the government.
Other AF leaders said they felt the government wanted to assail leaders of the opposition front with the sedition act in order to cripple the coalition of four parties.
Mohamed Ezam Mohamed Nor, youth leader of the NJP, is the latest opposition leader to face formal sedition charges. Two weeks ago he was charged for sedition by a local court in Kuala Lumpur.
He had to give a bail of $1500 to be released.
Sedition is punishable by up to three years imprisonment in Malaysia. Four opposition figures have been charged with the offence in the past 15 months.
The opposition says the government is trying to use the sedition act to sideline top AF leaders. If found guilty of sedition, AF leaders will not be able to contest seats in any elections in Malaysia for the next five years.
The four leaders under probe made statements contesting police reports and are being accused of distributing leaflets disputing the death toll in the current ethnic clashes.
According to police, five ethnic Indians and an Indonesian were killed during four days of violence that broke out March 8th in a poor area around Petaling Jaya town, west of Kuala Lumpur.
News agencies reported that four Indians, one Malay man and an Indonesian were killed instead of the numbers reported by the Malysian government. Some fifty people were also injured and 315 arrested.
Racial violence is an extremely sensitive issue in Malaysia, where 55% of Malaysia'a 22 million is of Malay ethnicity. Thirty percent are Chinese and eight percent are Indian, with other indigenous people making up the rest.
|
