Sex video may strengthen Anwar, says WSJ

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — The sex video implicating Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim could end up strengthening his position if he can convince Malaysians he is not the man in the recording, a leading US newspaper said today.

The internationally distributed Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said that if the opposition leader is successful in his denial, it will reinforce the belief that he is the victim of a political ploy and turn the tables on Umno, seen to be the perpetrators of the sex tape.

“If Anwar can convince Malaysians that he is not the man on the tape, this latest attack will only make him stronger, since it will bolster the belief at home and abroad that he is the victim of politically motivated persecution.

“That would spell bad news for the ruling United Malays National Organization (Umno), which says it has nothing to do with the sex tape,” it said in an opinion piece today.

It wrote that the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) is currently vulnerable despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak steadying the ship since taking power in April 2009.

This is due to corruption scandals such as the potential RM12.5 billion cost overrun in the Port Klang Free Zone project that are occurring on its watch, the newspaper said.

Anwar’s PKR has alleged that Najib is involved in the video, a claim which gained credence when Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik — who had to resign in 1994 as Malacca chief minister after accusations of statutory rape — admitted to his involvement.

But Umno has been quick to distance itself from its former Youth chief, and Najib himself called for the public to focus on police investigations into the identity of the man in the video, not the allegations of his party’s involvement.

The WSJ added today that the timing of the tape is politically significant as snap elections are expected later in the year.

The Sarawak state elections, where the opposition hopes to make significant gains, will be held on April 16.

However, the newspaper said that public scepticism over “the ever-lengthening list of allegations against Anwar suggests they may no longer have the power they once did to ruin political careers.”

Alternative sources of information are developing, and as Malaysians become better informed, they are more independent-minded, it wrote.

The Permatang Pauh MP is currently facing a second sodomy charge, after having a previous conviction in 1998 overturned in 2004, and has also been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct by, among others, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir, who sacked Anwar as deputy prime minister in 1998, had claimed in his recent autobiography that Anwar had propositioned at least four girls for sex in the 1990s.

But the WSJ said that the reversal of Anwar’s sodomy conviction due to inconsistent evidence and the assault he received in custody prior to the trial has resulted in his current sodomy trial being greeted sceptically by Malaysians