Open letter to Najib

COMMENT Below is an open letter to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, penned by Amnesty International Canada's coordinator for Malaysia and Singapore, Margaret John. She expresses concern over Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial.
Dear Prime Minister,
I write with respect in order to inform you about high-level concern in Canada regarding Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and to request your urgent intervention.

As you must be aware, there is worldwide concern about events relating to this prominent opposition leader’s current situation, thus putting a critical spotlight on Malaysia. As prime minister, you are undoubtedly concerned, for example, that the respected Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) recently declared that Anwar’s current trial on a charge of sodomy is riddled with defects.

The IPU has now made a decision to send an observer to the coming court hearings. The United States of America expressed its intention to continue to scrutinise this controversial trial.

Hundreds of participants, including former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell, at the World Movement for Democracy, signed a petition calling for a fair trial as well as for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar . Further, some 50 Australian parliamentarians recently signed a letter calling for an end to the ongoing sodomy trial.

Joining the international outcry, concern is increasingly expressed at a high level in Canada . Please see enclosed documents. In brief:

Officers of the Canadian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur remain in private and public contact with Anwar and have observed the trial proceedings with great interest.

In a Globe and Mail article, former Canadian Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin called for the charges to be dropped to enable Anwar Ibrahim to “pursue his vision of a democratic Malaysia, properly respectful of human rights”.

Opposition Liberal Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Bob Rae MP, called on Canada’s Parliament to take note of continuing political and legal harassment of Anwar, who has “long been a compelling spokesperson for democracy and for human rights in his country, and despite an unjustified prison sentence continues to speak out with courage and with determination”.

Forty-four Bloc Quebecois Party Members of Parliament signed a letter petitioning you “avec respect et amitie pour la Malaisie”, and declaring “ Nous sommes preoccupes par les accusations de sodomie portees contre Anwar” (with respect and amity for Malaysia ….We are concerned about the charges of sodomy against Anwar).

Twenty-eight New Democratic Party Members of Parliament have signed the enclosed petition, acknowledging the longstanding friendly relationship between Malaysia and Canada, referring to the damage to Malaysia ’s reputation with Anwar’s previous imprisonment and urging that current charges be dropped.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called for the protection and promotion of human rights in Malaysia - a call that was a clear focus of the United Nations’ 2009 Universal Periodic Review of Malaysia and strongly supported by Canada’s representatives.

Prime Minister, is it not time for Malaysia to become a truly progressive state in the area of human rights?

As evident from the widespread concern about Anwar, your leadership into a new 21st century era of human rights progress in Malaysia would be welcomed worldwide as a historic, major step forward. I urge for such a new beginning the ensuring of treatment of Anwar according to international human rights standards.

Yours respectfully,
Margaret John
Coordinator for Singapore and Malaysia