'Anwar in jail, Anwar out of jail... it doesn't matter. The most important (thing) is people should overthrow Umno,' he says.
KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said his coalition will survive even if he is jailed on sodomy charges, as his nationwide tour ahead of next week’s verdict rolls on despite police warnings.
Anwar was charged in 2008 with having sex with a male former aide and a verdict in the long-running trial is due to be handed down on Monday. If found guilty, the 64-year-old politician faces up to 20 years in jail.
Anwar has condemned the allegations as a government plot to destroy his image in the conservative Muslim-majority country, and reverse the unprecedented electoral gains the opposition made in 2008 polls.
To rally support ahead of the verdict, he has embarked on a nationwide tour that began Tuesday in southern Johor and will sweep through six other states before a courthouse demonstration on Monday.
Anwar told a gathering of about 500 people in central Negeri Sembilan state, near the capital Kuala Lumpur, late Wednesday that his three-party opposition alliance would not crumble without him.
“Anwar in jail, Anwar out of jail… it doesn’t matter. The most important (thing) is people should overthrow Umno,” he said during a fiery hour-long speech.
Pacing on a makeshift stage set up in a parking lot, Anwar said he was innocent of the allegations and called on his listeners to “save our country” from government corruption and mismanagement.
“I’m not guilty. I’m a victim of slander… there is no case if they follow the facts or the law,” he told the townspeople, many in Muslim traditional dress and brandishing party flags and pictures of Anwar.
He also took swipes at ruling party politicians, often raising laughter, accusing them of aiming to create divisions between majority ethnic Malays and the multicultural nation’s ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.
After his speech, the crowd applauded and proclaimed the innocence of the opposition leader, a former finance minister who was sacked and jailed a decade ago on separate sodomy charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Monday rally
“Everybody knows Anwar has not done anything wrong ever. (The government) is playing the same card, the same game,” 21-year-old university student Izzat Haffiz told AFP.
Despite low turnout in the opening days of the tour, organisers are hoping the crowds will increase dramatically when Anwar visits opposition-held Kelantan state late Thursday and northern Penang on Saturday.
The government has warned people against turning up at the courthouse protest Monday, and police have said they will crack down on anyone caught distributing posters as well as blogs “inciting people to attend the rally”.
“Police have to handle this matter carefully as the planned rally poses a threat to public security,” police internal security chief Salleh Mat Rasid said according to state media.
Deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin also criticised the opposition for going ahead with the nationwide tour and the rally at the court — the scene of previous large demonstrations relating to Anwar’s legal dramas.
“Many sides have already voiced their objections against the gathering,” Muhyiddin told the New Straits Times newspaper.
“By going ahead with it, they are showing that they’re going with the assumption that the courts already have a negative verdict.”
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, spent six years in jail on sodomy and corruption counts in a stunning fall from grace after he fell out with his then boss, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The sodomy conviction was eventually overturned and he was released in 2004, allowing him to revive his political career as leader of an opposition alliance which has for the first time threatened Umno’s half-century hold on power.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is widely expected to call fresh elections this year, hoping to regain a strong mandate after promising reforms on the economy as well as civil liberties.
KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said his coalition will survive even if he is jailed on sodomy charges, as his nationwide tour ahead of next week’s verdict rolls on despite police warnings.Anwar was charged in 2008 with having sex with a male former aide and a verdict in the long-running trial is due to be handed down on Monday. If found guilty, the 64-year-old politician faces up to 20 years in jail.
Anwar has condemned the allegations as a government plot to destroy his image in the conservative Muslim-majority country, and reverse the unprecedented electoral gains the opposition made in 2008 polls.
To rally support ahead of the verdict, he has embarked on a nationwide tour that began Tuesday in southern Johor and will sweep through six other states before a courthouse demonstration on Monday.
Anwar told a gathering of about 500 people in central Negeri Sembilan state, near the capital Kuala Lumpur, late Wednesday that his three-party opposition alliance would not crumble without him.
“Anwar in jail, Anwar out of jail… it doesn’t matter. The most important (thing) is people should overthrow Umno,” he said during a fiery hour-long speech.
Pacing on a makeshift stage set up in a parking lot, Anwar said he was innocent of the allegations and called on his listeners to “save our country” from government corruption and mismanagement.
“I’m not guilty. I’m a victim of slander… there is no case if they follow the facts or the law,” he told the townspeople, many in Muslim traditional dress and brandishing party flags and pictures of Anwar.
He also took swipes at ruling party politicians, often raising laughter, accusing them of aiming to create divisions between majority ethnic Malays and the multicultural nation’s ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.
After his speech, the crowd applauded and proclaimed the innocence of the opposition leader, a former finance minister who was sacked and jailed a decade ago on separate sodomy charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Monday rally
“Everybody knows Anwar has not done anything wrong ever. (The government) is playing the same card, the same game,” 21-year-old university student Izzat Haffiz told AFP.
Despite low turnout in the opening days of the tour, organisers are hoping the crowds will increase dramatically when Anwar visits opposition-held Kelantan state late Thursday and northern Penang on Saturday.
The government has warned people against turning up at the courthouse protest Monday, and police have said they will crack down on anyone caught distributing posters as well as blogs “inciting people to attend the rally”.
“Police have to handle this matter carefully as the planned rally poses a threat to public security,” police internal security chief Salleh Mat Rasid said according to state media.
Deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin also criticised the opposition for going ahead with the nationwide tour and the rally at the court — the scene of previous large demonstrations relating to Anwar’s legal dramas.
“Many sides have already voiced their objections against the gathering,” Muhyiddin told the New Straits Times newspaper.
“By going ahead with it, they are showing that they’re going with the assumption that the courts already have a negative verdict.”
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, spent six years in jail on sodomy and corruption counts in a stunning fall from grace after he fell out with his then boss, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The sodomy conviction was eventually overturned and he was released in 2004, allowing him to revive his political career as leader of an opposition alliance which has for the first time threatened Umno’s half-century hold on power.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is widely expected to call fresh elections this year, hoping to regain a strong mandate after promising reforms on the economy as well as civil liberties.
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