Sarawak opposition hails High Court verdict on Anwar’s case

Posted on January 10, 2012, Tuesday

KUCHING: The state opposition welcomes the decision of the High Court in acquitting and discharging opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from the charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008.

State PKR chairman Baru Bian, when contacted, said judging from the decision it was very obvious that it was a political prosecution. “It gives us a political boost of course. As to the government, we will wait and see whether they will appeal as usual,” he added.

The Ba Kelalan assemblyman also pointed out that the decision to acquit and discharge Anwar did not prove the government was fair or good; it only proved that there was a judge who had his conscience still left uncorrupted. “To me, it is a divine hand at work,” he stated.

In congratulating Anwar for getting a just verdict, state DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng shared the same sentiment as Baru that it was a political prosecution to defame Anwar and injure Pakatan Rakyat.

“Although Anwar was acquitted and the decision was just, I feel that he had not been given a fair trial. All along Anwar’s lawyers had said that the DNA evidence was unreliable,” he underlined. Wong, who is also Sibu MP and Bukit Asek state assemblyman, highlighted that the judge should have already ruled that there was no prima facie case for Anwar to answer. “Yet, Anwar was called to enter his defence. The judge should have already ruled at the end of the prosecution’s case that the DNA evidence was unreliable”.

Meanwhile, state PKR vice chairman See Chee How said the prosecution’s case was helplessly weak and making a mockery of our judicial system when the charge was framed. “In any other country, it cannot even be contemplated that such a prosecution could have been taken place,” See, who is also the state assemblyman for Batu Lintang, said.