CNN News: 62% Kata Keputusan Dzaiddin TIDAK ADIL
Agensi berita CNN melaporkan, mengikut pungutan suara yang diadakan 62%
pengundi menyatakan keputusan Ketua Hakim Negara Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah
menolak rayuan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim adalah TIDAK ADIL sementara 19%
TIDAK TAHU samada ianya adil atau tidak dan hanya 17% menyatakan keputusan
itu tepat. Berikut laporan penuh CNN yang tersiar semalam: Anwar blasts
Malaysian court Anwar has reached the limit of the appeals process. A
royal pardon is now his only option Jailed former deputy prime minister
Anwar Ibrahim has launched a scathing attack against Malaysia's highest
court after it refused to overturn his conviction. After losing his final
appeal Wednesday against a corruption conviction, Anwar blasted the court
and his old rival and one-time patron Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
"The judiciary has been emasculated and bludgeoned into submission at the
hands of Dr. Mahathir!
," said Anwar. "I wish Dr. Mahathir good luck. He has
nothing left to destroy." Anwar was sacked after challenging Mahathir in
1998. Along with serving a six-year term for abuse of power, he is also
serving a separate nine-year term for sodomy. The trials have been branded
as politically tainted by some Western governments, including the United
States, who considers Anwar a political prisoner. Anwar has long claimed
he was the victim of trumped up charges to stop him from challenging
Mahathir, and has called it a political conspiracy. But the three-judge
panel of Malaysia's highest court dismissed Anwar's last-ditch appeal,
ruling unanimously against him. "We are satisfied that the errors
complained of have not occasioned a substantial miscarriage of justice,"
said Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah. "We therefore dismiss the
appeal." Anwar rose from his wheelchair and lambasted the judges and
Mahathir, who had groomed him as his s!
uccessor but fired him in 1998,
touching off the Southeast Asian country's biggest political crisis in
years. Wednesday's verdict means that Anwar has now reached the limit of
the appeals process. A royal pardon is now his only option. About 300
well-wishers gathered outside the Kuala Lumpur courthouse, shouting
"Reformasi," the rallying cry of Anwar's supporters. One man was arrested,
according to media reports. The crowd marched to a police station and
lodged a legal complaint demanding a probe into their allegations the chief
justice rejected the appeal to further his career. While Dzaiddin has
tried to make the Federal Court more independent since taking office a year
ago, Anwar also directed an outburst at him, calling the appeal dismissal
the "darkest hour of the judiciary." "Your predecessor at least made no
pretense of being spineless (and) under Dr. Mahathir's complete control,"
Anwar said. "You, on the other hand, put up a cha!
rade of impartiality,
professing an ardent desire to restore confidence in the judiciary."
Before being escorted back to prison, Anwar told reporters "Dr. Mahathir has
no courage, no guts to face me. The international community should make a
stand on this." The corruption case hinged on whether Anwar abused his
power to get forced retractions from people accusing him of sodomy and
adultery. The government denies a judicial conspiracy, but the trials have
been condemned as unfair. Key witnesses changed testimony and one policeman
acknowledged he would lie under oath if ordered, according to wire reports.
The verdict merely throws the spotlight on the independence of Malaysia's
judiciary, says K Kabilan, news editor for Malaysiakini.com. Anwar's
lawyers called the verdict a "travesty," but his daughter, Nurul Izzah, said
it was expected: "It shows that Dr. Mahathir's rule of law is still
supreme." Mahathir, 76, tearfully declared his inte!
ntion to resign last
month. Under appeals by supporters, he agreed to stay and will hand power to
his current deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, next year.
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