Anwar remains at Embassy, files suit

MALAYSIA: Malaysia’s main opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, taking refuge at the Turkish embassy after saying his life was in danger, filed a defamation suit on Monday over fresh accusations that he committed sodomy.

The sensational developments, almost a repeat of the country’s worst political crisis 10 years ago, is further roiling waters muddied since polls on March 8 that dealt Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s National Front coalition the worst electoral drubbing in Malaysian history.

The key stock index fell 0.7 percent at the midday break on the news that can only add to an uncertain outlook and will likely cloud policy-making at a time when rising food and fuel prices are stoking public discontent.

Investors have been dumping the ringgit as well. “Ongoing political upheaval is weighing on the ringgit,” said financial markets consultancy IDEAglobal.com. “Thus U.S. dollar buying remains attractive as investors have been shipping out investments to elsewhere in Asia.”

Malaysian Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop played down those concerns. “At the end of the day, what matters is the economic fundamentals despite the challenges,” he told reporters. “I am confident we will do very well.”

Anwar, 60, fled to the Turkish embassy in a Kuala Lumpur suburb on Sunday morning, 12 hours after the accusations surfaced, saying he had received death threats. Kuala Lumpur, Monday, Reuters