(Petaling Jaya, Tuesday): The Prime
Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad should give a categorical assurance
that the "instruments of government" are not being used in any political
conspiracy against former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister and all Cabinet Ministers should show that they
strictly adhere to the principle that a person is innocent until
proven guilty and that Anwar would not be a victim of either a trial by
media or an orchestrated campaign of character-assassination.
Malaysians were shocked by mass media saturation coverage of various court affidavits detailing allegations of sexual misconduct, corruption and treason against Anwar in a case involving another person, Datuk Nallakaruppan Solaimalai, which is not only unprecedented but most unfair - as the allegations were totally untested, unchallenged and therefore unproven.
What is equally shocking is that when Nallakaruppan issued a statement declaring that he had never given statements to the police implicating Anwar in a variety of offences, this statement was blacked out by the electronic and printed mass media.
In his three-page statement issued from prison through his lawyers, Nallakaruppan said he wanted to squash "vile and false rumours" that he had given "statements of various sorts" about the former DPM implicating him in various offences.
He said: "The truth of the matter is that I have not. There was nothing to give statements about."
Nallakaruppan or Nalla is the person who allegedly arranged the former Deputy Prime Minister's sexual trysts in a signed statement challenged everything that the police have said about him, including allegations that he had given RM60 million to Anwar during the 1995 general elections and acted as a middleman in activities which allowed Anwar to be used by foreign subversive forces.
Nalla had addressed the allegations one by one and said that he was never involved in any sexual impropriety and had never used nor taken Anwar to Tivoli Villa or any other properties.
He said that he never had RM60 million at his disposal and the allegation that he gave that amount to the former DPM was "utter rubbish."
He also described as "wild allegations without any foundation of truth" the charge that he was involved in any activities that would have permitted Anwar to be used by foreign elements.
Concluding, he said that the former DPM had been wronged unjustly. He said: "The loss, harm and suffering that has been perpetrated on a good and innocent man, his family and the nation is great. Only God, justice and time will set all this right. I have faith in all three. My fault, if it can be described as one, is that I played tennis with a great man, a fact known to many and now exploited by a few."
I cannot vouch for the veracity of Nalla�s statement clearing Anwar, but it surely blows a big hole in Mahathir�s case for sacking Anwar.
However, what raises the most disturbing questions about the propriety, validity and legitimacy of the sacking of Anwar as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister is why Nalla�s statement rebutting the various untested, unverified and unproven allegations of sexual misconduct, corruption and treason against Anwar attributed to him had been blacked out by the mass media - when television, radio and the newspapers had broken all rules of journalistic ethics and decency by giving saturation coverage to these allegations last Friday.
(8/9/98)