|
|
Change Your Life! |
The defendant’s last speech |
|
News
|
|
|
July 18, 2000
KUALA LUMPUR (AP) - Taking what may be his last chance to address a public forum for many years, ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim took over his own defense Monday and insisted that the sex trial he has been put through results from a "dirty, despicable" conspiracy. Mounting the podium to present the final defense rebuttal in closing arguments of the yearlong trial, Anwar thanked his defense team but said that he had the responsibility, in the end, to plead for acquittal on his own behalf. "I am the accused, and the issues, the events, the circumstances are known to me," Anwar said. Anwar, 52, launched into a detailed account of what has become a familiar refrain since he was dismissed in September 1998 as the heir-apparent to Malaysia's longtime leader, Mahathir Mohamad: that the prime minister and others framed him to fend off what they allegedly saw as a potential challenger. Anwar rattled off a list of Cabinet ministers and senior officials, including the national police chief who later beat him in custody, as the architects and pawns in a plot to crush him politically through charges of corruption and sodomy. "This is a dirty, despicable conspiracy," Anwar told High Court Judge Ariffin Jaka, who will determine his guilt or innocence. "They want a conviction at all costs. ... That is horrendous and it is a crime." Coming as close as he could to saying that the trial itself was stacked against him, Anwar said that the judicial decision to exempt Mahathir from testifying had gutted his defense. But Ariffin urged Anwar to not be "so emotional about conspiracy" and to concentrate on the evidence leveled at him - testimony by former family driver, Azizan Abu Bakar, that he was sodomized by Anwar at a Kuala Lumpur apartment. The judge is expected Tuesday to set a date for the verdict after Anwar concludes his arguments. Prosecutors originally said Anwar had committed sodomy in May 1994, but amended that to May 1992 based on testimony by Azizan. When the defense proved the apartment where the offense was said to have occurred was not completed until 1993, the timing was amended to sometime in the first three months of 1993. Anwar's lawyers have presented alibis for most of February and March 1993; less so for January and early February. "Think of the charges against you," Ariffin told Anwar. "Focus on your defense of alibi, reply point by point." Choosing his words haltingly at first, then gaining confidence, Anwar showed flashes of the charisma that drew thousands of protesters onto the streets of Kuala Lumpur in his support three years ago, the biggest challenge to Mahathir in his 19-year rule. Though the protest movement has petered out, its momentum led to the creation of a new party led by Anwar's wife and helped forge an opposition coalition that made significant gains in parliamentary elections last year, though Mahathir's ruling National Front retained power. On Monday, Anwar's decision to mount his own defense caught the court by surprise, but the performance could not hide that it will be one of his final chances to sway a public forum. He is already serving a six-year prison term for a conviction of corruption handed down last year. A sodomy conviction could bring him another 20 years. Anwar, clearly relishing his first chance to speak publicly at length since his arrest, took numerous swipes at the government prosecution team. "Is it the duty of the prosecution to trick us by treacherous methods or to seek the truth?" Anwar asked. He then wrapped up Monday's hearing with a plea to Ariffin to acquit him: "You don't convict a person based on far-fetched conjectures." Anwar carried piles of notes to the podium and told the judge he had prepared his own arguments over the weekend in prison, alone, unable to see his counsel. The notes fell off the podium several times, prompting Anwar's attorneys to ask Ariffin for a table. "See how difficult it is?" lawyer Gobind Singh Deo said. "Give a table to him. This man is a former deputy prime minister of Malaysia." The judge refused: "Don't make life difficult for this trial." |