Anwar hints at imminent arrest

Anwar is mobbed by the crowd at his ceramah last night. — Picture by Choo Choy May

SEREMBAN, July 30 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has hinted that he might be arrested again very soon in connection with sodomy allegations against him which he described as a conspiracy to destroy his political career.

"I heard the news from KL… Who knows maybe I'll arrested tonight or maybe tomorrow," he said without elaborating, when addressing a few thousand people at a ceramah in Negri Sembilan late last night.

The Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader spoke for about an hour when addressing the crowd at a Pas service centre in Jempol, about 85km from here.

It is learnt that the police have completed their investigations into the sodomy allegations and will charge Anwar soon.

At the ceramah, Anwar reiterated the points made during his press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that the allegations made by his accuser Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had no merit, as proven by a leaked medical report that there was no evidence of sodomy on his accuser.

A section of the crowd who turned out for Anwar’s ceramah last night.

He had asked the authorities to stop the investigation immediately, claiming that they had nothing to charge him with.

Anwar also spent a lot time retelling the mostly rural dwellers about his ordeal when he was arrested by the police as well as when he was at the Kuala Lumpur hospital for his medical examination on July 16.

"The police asked me whether I did it or not (sodomy), and I said, no, no, no, I didn't do it," he said, recalling the five-hour questioning by the police on the day he was arrested.

To win the hearts of his local supporters, the former deputy prime minister also said he would announce "in a day or two" his plan to re-enter Parliament (after he was sacked and subsequently jailed in late 1998).

"For now (my decision is) Kulim but who knows, it could be (that I would contest in) Port Dickson or Teluk Kemang (both in Negri Sembilan)," he said with the crowd roaring with laughter.

On Sunday night in Kulim, Kedah, Anwar announced to thousands of his supporters that he had chosen the Kulim Bandar Baharu parliamentary seat for his official political comeback.

There will be a by-election for the constituency if an election court decides on Aug 19 that the result of the March 8 general election is null and void due to the failure of the winner, the PKR's Zulkifli Noordin, to comply with election laws.

-TMI