From The Sydney Morning Herald 10th August 2000

By DAVID LAGUE, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, risks inflaming his row with Malaysian leader, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after he yesterday joined a chorus of international outrage over the jailing of the former Malaysian deputy Prime Minister, Mr Anwar Ibrahim.

Mr Howard questioned the independence of Malaysia's judiciary and suggested that Mr Anwar was being politically persecuted after he was jailed for nine years on Tuesday for sodomy.

"It does seem to be part of a series of events that represent some kind of political campaign against Anwar and that is a matter for very great concern," Mr Howard said.

Malaysia's government and judiciary yesterday came under unprecedented international attack for the jailing of Mr Anwar after a widely condemned trial where, among other questionable rulings, the court twice allowed the prosecution to change the date of the alleged offences after the defence established strong alibis.

Much of the criticism from human rights groups and newspapers in the region was directed at Dr Mahathir who was accused of a vindictive campaign to destroy his former deputy after it appeared Mr Anwar planned to mount a leadership challenge.

The United States said it was "outraged" at the heavy sentence on top of an earlier 6-year term for corruption. A State Department spokesman said the Secretary of State, Dr Madeleine Albright, planned to lodge a protest with Kuala Lumpur.

The president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, said in a statement he was deeply distressed at the verdict.

"Anwar is not only a friend and a valued colleague, he was a distinguished chairman of our Development Committee and a man who believed in speaking his mind. This sentence is very troubling."

A Canadian government spokeswoman blasted a trial she said was "seriously flawed".

"The erosion of confidence in the rule of law not only threatens the rule of democracy in Malaysia but could also damage the nation's long-term economic prospects," she said.

The Geneva based International Commission of Jurists also condemned the trial and attacked comments Dr Mahathir made about Mr Anwar during the proceedings as "prejudicial and entirely inconsistent with a free and independent judiciary".

"Anwar's mistreatment, including his beating during detention, was contrary to international human rights standards," it said."The sentences imposed are wholly disproportionate to the alleged offence committed."

The strength of the international outcry is a new experience for the Malaysian government and Dr Mahathir.

Authorities in Malaysia and neighbouring Singapore have often been accused of corrupting their courts in trials involving political dissidents or outspoken government critics but the retention of at least the forms and apparent of colonial-era British judicial systems has served to minimise this criticism.

However, the reaction to the trials of the popular Mr Anwar could be a warning to both governments that the international mood has changed.Dr Mahathir can be expected to lash out at his critics including Mr Howard with whom he has already sparred over the treatment of Mr Anwar.

The veteran Malaysian leader earlier this year said Mr Howard was "unwelcome" in Asia because he had criticised the the Anwar trial.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, on Tuesday avoided commenting on the sentence but Mr Howard's reaction was much tougher.

Mr Howard yesterday told ABC radio that he had raised a "pattern of conduct that's gone on over a period of time" with Dr Mahathir in 1998.