Ex-Deputy Prime Minister Guilty in Malaysia Sex Case

Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, and his adopted brother were found guilty in a Kuala Lumpur court today of sodomizing the family chauffeur, ending a lurid legal drama that galvanized Malaysians for 14 months.

“Bloody, rotten judiciary!” Anwar said, hugging his wife after the verdict was read. Then he shouted, “Sick!” and hurried out of the public gallery to consult his attorneys.

Anwar was sentenced to nine years in prison. Sukma Darmawan, 39, was sentenced to six years and four strokes of a cane. Anwar could not be caned because he is older than 50.

Anwar, who will be 53 on Thursday, maintained his innocence throughout the trial that divided Malaysians and raised questions about the fairness of the country’s legal system. He said he was set up by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in an attempt to derail his growing popularity and influence.

“The prime minister was maestro in the orchestration of the scheme,” Anwar thundered in delivering his own closing defense three weeks ago. “There were adequate motives to get me dismissed and charged and convicted.”

The verdict, rendered by Ariffin Jaka, who served as both judge and jury, came as no surprise to several hundred Anwar supporters who gathered outside the Moorish-style courthouse or to his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who has carried the banner of his political reform movement since his arrest. The government, Western diplomats said, had staked its credibility on ensuring that Anwar was not found innocent.

Anwar is already serving a six-year prison sentence for abuse of power on charges related to his alleged sexual misconduct. He will be ineligible to run for political office until five years after he is freed, and today’s verdict appeared to end the political career of a man once expected to be Malaysia’s next prime minister. Defense attorney Christopher Fernando said he would appeal, adding that the verdict was “utterly mind-boggling given all the evidence which favors the defendant.”

Until Mahathir sacked him as deputy prime minister in September 1998, Anwar was a high-profile leader on the international circuit and a favorite of political luminaries in Washington. He was often referred to as symbolic of a new breed of leadership in Southeast Asia--young, articulate, reformist, a clear break from old-guard leaders like Mahathir, who has served as Malaysia’s prime minister for 19 years.

But Mahathir and Anwar had a falling-out over economic reform in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis--Mahathir wanted to establish currency controls; Anwar favored prescriptions offered by the International Monetary Fund--and Anwar was fired. He then filled the streets of Malaysia’s normally tranquil capital, Kuala Lumpur, with 30,000 supporters demanding economic and political reform.

Anwar was arrested a few weeks later and charged with sodomy and trying to hinder the investigation into the case. In prison, he was handcuffed and beaten by Malaysia’s police chief. He appeared in court with a black eye, causing an uproar among human rights activists and badly damaging the image of Mahathir’s government.

The government said Anwar’s “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” with chauffeur Azizan abu Bakar took place “one night in May 1994.” Defense attorneys showed that the apartment where the two were supposed to have met wasn’t inhabited then because of construction, so the government changed the date to May 1992. When Anwar came up with alibis for every night that month, the date was changed again, to “one night between the month of January and March 1993 at about 7:45.”

Judge Ariffin dismissed the changes as a “mere amendment.”

After a flurry of anti-government rallies following Anwar’s arrest, public interest in the reform movement dwindled as Malaysians turned their attention to the improving economy. But the Anwar drama left the multiethnic, predominantly Muslim nation of 20 million divided and cost Mahathir’s party votes at the national election last November.

Security officials had said they would tolerate no public disturbances when Anwar’s verdict was released. More than 200 riot police carrying shields and batons, backed by water cannon trucks, surrounded the courthouse to which Anwar was driven today from Sungai Buloh Prison on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.