http://www.atimes.com/se-asia/CH15Ae01.html

August 15, 2001

Asia Times

DIRE STRAITS

Opposition be damned

By Anil Netto

Opposition leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, speaking a day after she met her ailing spouse, Anwar Ibrahim, at Sungai Buloh prison, has expressed concern about the ex-deputy premier's health.

"Even though his spirit is still strong, his physical condition is worrying," she told Asia Times Online in a telephone interview on Monday, after marking Anwar's third birthday behind bars.

On Sunday, police set up four checkpoints to block a 200-car convoy of reformasi (reform) supporters heading for the prison to stage a birthday bash for Anwar as a helicopter clattered overhead. As crowds watched, police turned away the supporters shortly after they unfurled flags and banners, chanted reformasi, cut a cake and sang. One man, identified in a news report as Alias Mohamad Din, was detained.

Only Azizah, her daughters and her father were allowed to meet Anwar for about 45 minutes. They spoke to each other through a glass shield and were only allowed physical contact in the last 15 minutes. They were allowed to present him with homemade cheesecake and fried noodles.

Police defended the tight security, involving some 150 personnel, by saying they had to take action to block the "illegal gathering".

Azizah said Anwar, who turned 54 on Friday, was in a wheelchair and both his feet were swollen. "The doctors think it is the side-effects of the analgesic painkillers," she said, adding that they were also trying to rule out liver, kidney or heart problems. Azizah said Anwar was wearing "pressure stockings" to contain the swelling on his feet. Azizah, who is the president of the National Justice Party (Keadilan), said Anwar would be undergoing blood tests on Monday.

Anwar was assaulted in police custody after he was arrested in September 1998. The police chief at the time, Rahim Noor, later admitted to an independent commission of inquiry that he was the assailant. The commission was also told that the blows were potentially lethal. Anwar's slipped disc woes are complicated by spondylitis sustained from an earlier fall from a horse.

Rahim was eventually sentenced to two months in jail for the assault and was later released after receiving the customary one-third remission for good behavior.

Anwar insists that he is entitled to "less risky" minimally invasive endoscopic spinal surgery in a Germany-based spinal clinic, as recommended by his Dutch surgeon, Dr Thomas Hoogland, who heads the clinic's spine unit. The government maintains that any surgery should be carried out within Malaysia, and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said the decision is "final". The government-appointed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), however, has backed Anwar's right to receive medical treatment abroad.

Even as the Mahathir-Anwar standoff continues, the screws on freedom of political expression are slowly being tightened. Apart from a spate of arrests under harsh security laws, police have also clamped down on almost all political gatherings.

On Saturday, police almost stopped an opposition dinner gathering at a restaurant in Malacca state, south of Kuala Lumpur, after a party leader allegedly made a political speech, a local daily reported. Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party, was addressing a crowd of more than 600 at a dinner to mark the party's 35th anniversary when several uniformed and plainclothes police personnel moved into the restaurant.

According to the daily, although the party was given a police permit to hold the dinner, its leaders were not allowed to give "political speeches". Lim, who had been touching on various national issues, was forced to end his speech abruptly after police moved closer to the stage and informed the organizers to stop all speeches.

Meanwhile, an ongoing blitz against producers and peddlers of pirated movies and pornography on video compact discs (VCDs) has now been extended to include material with political content. Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung said the government would take stern action against the makers and sellers of VCDs and tapes containing recordings of political speeches.

Such political VCDs usually cover the speeches made by politicians from Keadilan and the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). Usually priced at less than 10 ringgit (US$2.63), they are a popular medium of communication for opposition parties, already faced with existing media curbs, to reach out to the public.

Chor said he had watched some seized VCDs and found a lot of political statements supposedly from opposition leaders allegedly spreading lies against the government. "This is a threat to our multi-racial community. If we allow this to go on, I believe there will be chaos in the country," he said.

PAS president Fadzil Noor is now seeking a meeting with Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over the ban. "The government has already banned all political ceramah [political gatherings]. How are we going to brief our voters with the latest updates on politics and issues?" he was quoted as saying.