Wednesday January 12 2000
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)
By SEAN YOONG Associated Press Writer

In a crackdown on opponents of Malaysia's prime minister, police today arrested a leading editor and the lawyer for the jailed deputy prime minister and charged them with sedition.

Authorities also charged a member of deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's political party with spreading racial discord. Opposition leaders had long feared that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad,

who has ruled Malaysia for 18 years, would use the police to silence his critics, especially those close to Anwar.

``It's all very ominous. Our worst fears are coming true,'' said Lim Kit Siang, head of the Democratic Action Party. He said opposition leaders expected more arrests later this week.

Karpal Singh, a prominent lawyer who represents Anwar in his ongoing sodomy and corruption trial, was charged today with sedition for alleging in court last year that someone was trying to kill Anwar.

``This will be the first case where a lawyer is being charged for saying something in court,'' Karpal, who also serves as the Democratic Action Party's deputy leader, told reporters after he was released on $1,315 bail.

In other arrests today, Zulkifli Sulong, the editor of Harakah, the newspaper of the opposition Islamic fundamentalist party, was charged with sedition for an article about Anwar's trial. He said the newspaper's printer was also charged.

``If I'm found guilty, the newspaper could be suspended,'' Zulkifli told The Associated Press.

Zulkifli, who was released on bail, faces six months in prison and a fine of $1,315 if convicted.

Also, Marina Yusoff, a member of Anwar's National Justice Party, was charged with ``provoking racial discord.'' She too could face a jail term.

The Islamic party made great strides in the November general elections, when it took two states and nearly tripled its seats in Parliament.

Mahathir's coalition, however, maintained its hold by winning more than two-thirds of the 193 seats.

Karpal, a former member of Parliament, is one of Mahathir's most vocal critics. He has routinely accused Mahathir's allies of fabricating the charges against his client and even of attempts to poison him in prison.

Anwar, 52, is serving a six-year sentence for corruption. He was sacked by Mahathir in September 1998. He was arrested soon after he led a mammoth anti-government rally in Kuala Lumpur.