Malaysian Opposition leader outed by Wikileaks -- faces 20 years in prison :(

backslashbaby · Dec 16, 2010

He's on trial for sodomy -- not the first time he's faced those 'accusations'

"The Australians said that Singapore's intelligence services and (former prime minister) Lee Kuan Yew have told ONA (Office of National Assessments) in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar 'did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted'," the cable read.

"ONA assessed, and their Singapore counterparts concurred, 'it was a set-up job and he probably knew that, but walked into it anyway'," according to the cable.

Anwar, 63, has vehemently denied sodomising his aide, 25-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, claiming he was the victim of a political conspiracy.

He faces 20 years in prison if found guilty of sodomy, a serious crime in Muslim-dominated Malaysia.

Most newspapers in the country carried the allegations on their front page with influential Malay daily Utusan running a headline stating: "Singapore spy agency verifies sodomy act".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101213/wl_asia_afp/malaysiaussingaporediplomacywikileaks

It's disgusting that it's illegal, of course. But to have the acts 'verified' by sources like the Australians and the Singaporians (is that the right word?) is a crushing blow.

-- The age difference is kind of eyebrow-raising, imho. But whatever floats your boat

Consensual 'sodomy' is just as illegal there.

Caitlin Black · Dec 16, 2010

Damn the Australians!

*checks his own location*

Erm, damn all the other Australians apart from me...

...

I didn't realise anal was illegal in Malaysia, or indeed within the Muslim countries in general. So sad...

Gale Haut · Dec 16, 2010

The charges against Anwar have been made by Azlan (a heterosexual married with children) for forcing him to participate in acts of sodomy. The information released in November 2008 by WikiLeaks is being used as evidence.

I think calling this case an "Outing" by WikiLeaks is jumping to some major conclusions. And without enough information to determine what really did go down behind close doors, I'm not even sure this is the appropriate forum for the discussion. I mean, I'm liable to think that having sexual relations with your aide is an abuse of power regardless of sexuality.

EDIT: I'll say that the article you added is a different take on the situation than those I've already read. How can we decipher whether this really was a honey trap? I'll just say I'm not sold on it. And keep my mouth shut from there.

backslashbaby · Dec 16, 2010

Oh, well very true if it weren't a consensual relationship, of course. I'd certainly have no real way of knowing.

He wouldn't be jailed for the sexual harrassment part, I don't expect; it's the question of sodomy that is fully at issue here because of the sodomy laws there.

If intelligence services are saying it happened, that's the outing I'm referring to. Or at least the publication of that information. We don't even know how they came to that conclusion, yet it's in all the headlines there.

Perhaps it's just political, but I see it as a QLTBAG issue. They wouldn't care about it if it were just sexual harrassment, imho. Whatever it really was.

Gale Haut · Dec 16, 2010

Oops. I said I was going to keep my mouth shut.

backslashbaby said:
They wouldn't care about it if it were just sexual harrassment, imho. Whatever it really was.

You have a point.

How ethical is the prohibition of sodomy in Malaysia? It's hard not to harshly contrast our own culture with theirs in this situation. But then we need to consider the impact the sex-slave endemic has on this part of the world. Legislature may be irrationally influenced in their decision making as a result, by thinking they are prohibiting the trafficking and prostitution of young boys, which is a big problem there. But it does actually look like there's a compelling case for Anwar's being caught in a political conspiracy.

Okay, so I apologize for thinking through this out-loud. The Wikipedia page has a lot of valuable information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim#Charges_of_corruption_and_sodomy

Malaysian Opposition leader outed by Wikileaks -- faces 20 years in prison :(

backslashbaby

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Caitlin Black

Wild one

Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

backslashbaby

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Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

Malaysian Opposition leader outed by Wikileaks -- faces 20 years in prison :(

backslashbaby

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Caitlin Black

Wild one

Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

backslashbaby

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Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

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