Asia Times: Malaysia cracks down on opposition



	January 14, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Malaysia cracks down on opposition

KUALA LUMPUR - The arrests on sedition charges of four people linked to the opposition, as Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad left for an overseas holiday on Wednesday, could be the start of a wider crackdown, critics warn.

The four are linked to Malaysia's three main opposition parties. Two of them - Democratic Action Party deputy chairman Karpal Singh and National Justice Party (keADILan) vice-president Marina Yusoff - are prominent opposition leaders and vocal critics.

Karpal is also a lead lawyer for ousted and jailed deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose sodomy trial was put on hold before the general election in November. Mahathir is due to provide evidence in court once the trial resumes and would have come face-to-face with Karpal, one of his long-time political foes, in a much-anticipated courtroom showdown. It is too early to tell how Karpal's arrest will affect the trial.

Karpal is expected to be charged in court on Friday in connection with his allegation that ''some people in high places'' were responsible for the alleged arsenic poisoning of Anwar - which was later not borne out by additional tests.

Marina is also expected to be charged on Friday over her allegation that leaders in the dominant United Malays National Organization - which Mahathir heads - had planned and carried out the massacre of Chinese Malaysians during the May 13, 1969, ethnic conflict. Her account apparently conflicts with official versions of the incidents.

The other two people arrrested are involved in producing the opposition bi-weekly Harakah, the country's best-selling Malay language newspaper published by the Islamic Party (PAS). Editor Zulkifli Sulong and printer Shea Lim Thye both pleaded not guilty in court on Thursday morning to charges of printing seditious news in August 1999 relating to the Anwar trial. Their arrests came soon after the management of Harakah, which can only be sold to party members according to its license, was warned against selling the paper to non-members of PAS.

Four other Malay-language publications were also warned about violating the conditions in their publication permits. This small band of alternative Malay-language media has threatened to loosen the stranglehold of the mainstream media .

A warrant of arrest was also issued on January 6 for keADILan youth chief Mohammad Ezam Mohamed Nor.

Mahathir left for his holiday in Argentina and the Caribbean on Thursday afternoon, the series of arrests having begun in the morning. He is scheduled to return to Malaysia on February 3 after rounding off his vacation with a week-long working trip in Switzerland.

''The prime minister has the knack of being out of the country during internal travails,'' noted political commentator M G G Pillai. In the premier's absence, Home Minister Abdullah Badawi, who replaced Anwar as deputy premier, was left to field questions about the arrests. He said more people may be arrested later depending on police investigations. Abdullah, however, stressed it was ''not a crackdown'' and that the arrests were a follow-up of police investigations.

''This crackdown was not unexpected,'' said Pillai, who observed that whenever Umno is nervous or shell-shocked, as now after losing key seats in Parliament in November, the opposition bears the brunt.

Umno, of which Mahathir is president, has good reason to be nervous despite the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition retaining its two-thirds parliamentary majority in the recent election. The party lost much ground to PAS, and analysts say that it does not even command majority support among the Malay community, Umno's traditional support base, anymore.

In 1987, when Mahathir faced a stern leadership challenge within Umno, more than 100 critics and activists were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows indefinite detention without trial. This time, perhaps as a result of intense criticism of the ISA from opposition politicians and human rights groups, the authorities appear less inclined to use that law.

There is also speculation that the crackdown is linked to internal upheaval that Umno is due to face during the party elections in May, when there is bound to be considerable soul-searching following the erosion in Malay support in the last election.

Though on paper Mahathir and Abdullah should pick up the top two party posts following ''advice'' from the party's supreme council to leave the posts uncontested, it is hard to tell if Umno factions will heed the recommendation when it is time for them to nominate candidates.

Commentators talk of grassroots unhappiness and rumbling about the no-contest advice. Some observers believe that there should be a contest for at least the deputy president's post, left vacant after Anwar's ouster. Already, the field is crowded for the three vice-presidential posts, with 10 contenders believed to be vying for them.

(Inter Press Service)

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©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.