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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim prepared Wednesday to be interrogated by police over sodomy allegations levelled by a former aide, after his lawyer said he faces imminent arrest.
Anwar has dismissed the accusations as a political conspiracy designed to prevent him from seizing power, and his supporters have threatened to hold mass demonstrations if he is taken into custody.
"We will see whether they arrest him or not. We will have to wait and see," said Tian Chua, information chief of Anwar's Keadilan party which leads a three-member opposition alliance.
"We are ready to face this attack and possibly a mass crackdown on the party, with arrests of other leaders and supporters aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear," Chua told AFP.
Anwar's lawyer on Tuesday said police had informed him a warrant had been issued for his arrest, and that he could be taken into custody when he appears at Kuala Lumpur police headquarters for questioning at 2:00pm (0600 GMT).
Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a 23-year-old who was a volunteer in Anwar's office, last month accused him of sodomy - the same charge that saw the opposition leader jailed a decade ago.
Anwar, who amid the furore held an unprecedented live television debate with a government minister Tuesday night, urged police to exercise caution.
"This is of course a police decision but it should be a considered decision. We are still in the very early stages of investigation. The case has not been determined," he told reporters.
"Do not believe in the lies and slander," the 60-year-old told the audience at the debate.
On Wednesday his first appointment was with the Anti-Corruption Agency, where he was questioned over allegations against the police chief and attorney general relating to his trial on sodomy and corruption charges a decade ago.
Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 in the midst of the Asian financial crisis which heightened his power struggle with then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Shortly after, he was charged with corruption and sodomy - a serious offence in predominantly Muslim Malaysia - and appeared in court with a black eye after a beating from the police chief.
Anwar has filed a police report alleging that the current police chief, who was then the investigating officer, and the attorney-general, who was then the prosecutor, falsified the investigation into the assault.
He was subsequently convicted on both the counts and spent six years in jail, until the nation's highest court overturned the sex charge.
Massive protests erupted after Anwar's 1998 sacking and arrest, in a "Reformasi" or "Reform" movement that continues to reverberate in Malaysian politics to this day.
Keadilan has warned its supporters will again hold mass demonstrations if their leader is taken into custody.
The ruling coalition has been badly rattled by Anwar's claim that he is poised to seize power with the help of defecting government lawmakers, after March general elections handed the opposition a third of parliamentary seats.
- AFP/yb
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