KUALA LUMPUR, May
24 (IslamOnline) - Supporters of Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia were disappointed as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday the jailed leader would not be allowed to travel abroad for treatment and spinal surgery.
After a failed meeting between the Premier and opposition leader Fadzil Noor (leader of the Party Islam SeMalaysia - PAS) the opposition handed a memorandum to the human rights group Suhakam.
Shouts of "reformasi" (reform) were heard while police watched from afar.
Mahathir told Noor that his decision to block the ailing Malay leader from traveling abroad for a complicated back operation in Munich was final.
Sources in Kuala Lumpur said the Malaysian premier said he would however soften his stand on the issue by allowing Anwar Ibrahim to seek treatment in any hospital in Malaysia.
Earlier, the government said treatment could only be performed in the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH).
Disappointment from Anwar supporters ran deep in Kuala Lumpur upon hearing of Mahathir's continued opposition towards sending Anwar abroad..
Anwar supporters say that Mahathir wanted to make another show of his "fading powers and popularity" by meeting Noor in Putra Jaya, the new administrative capital.
They also claimed that Mahathir's refusal to allow Anwar Ibrahim's wife to accompany Noor in the meeting showed that the aging Premier "has problems to look right in the face of the Wan Azizah Wan Ismail."
A substantial crowd of 1000 supporters gathered at the building housing the SUHAKAM human rights group on Thursday after hearing news that the Prime Minister had rejected the appeals made by the Alternative Front (AF).
A member of the Mahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO) overseeing the crowd at the SUHAKAM building said that the Anwar Ibrahim issue would remain a major factor in the country.
Anwar Ibrahim was once a rising star in the UMNO, defeating the old guard, becoming the deputy prime minister before his ouster in September 1998.
Anwar wants permission to travel to a clinic in Munich, Germany, to undergo endoscopic surgery on his back. The government says prisoners are not allowed to travel overseas.
He is serving multiple prison terms totaling 15 years on convictions of sodomy and corruption.
At SUHAKAM, demonstrators carried banners and placards stating, "Anwar's health issue is not political" and showed photos of Anwar.
