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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is planning to force criminal suspects to give DNA samples, but denied it is targeting opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who refused to give a sample after his arrest on sodomy charges.
Anwar, a former deputy premier until being sacked in 1998 and jailed on sodomy and corruption charges, has rejected the new allegations as a government plot and says he fears a DNA sample could be manipulated.
"It is not politically motivated and has nothing to do with Anwar. The government has been working on this bill since 2001," Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar reportedly said after introducing the bill in parliament on Monday.
"It is ridiculous to attribute it to political motives," he said, according to the New Straits Times daily.
Syed Hamid said the legislation would enable police to record and store the DNA of every person charged in court or arrested on suspicion of a criminal offence.
"There is no law at present on this. What we are doing is introducing a law to regulate and govern the taking of DNA," he said.
"I don't think they (the opposition) should attribute a sinister motive to it. If there is a case in court and you are not guilty, why should you worry about this bill?"
Anwar was jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges, but the sodomy counts were overturned by the nation's highest court in 2004.
He has rejected the latest allegations made by Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a 23-year-old former aide, as a government conspiracy to prevent him from seizing power after landmark March elections.
Opposition lawmaker Gobind Singh Deo, who is also a prominent lawyer, said the new bill could not be used to force Anwar to give a sample as it could not be applied retroactively.
After March elections that handed the opposition a third of parliamentary seats, Anwar has said he is poised to seize power with the help of government defectors.
Opposition lawmaker Lim Kit Siang criticised the introduction of the bill and noted it coincided with Anwar's bid to return to parliament in a by-election on August 26, the Star newspaper reported.
- AFP/yb
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