PORT DICKSON • Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim says his critics should start using new tactics to discredit him instead of still trying to link him to acts of sodomy, saying this was a stale approach.
"This (being accused of sodomy) has been going on for 20 years. Enough lah... please look for other issues. I am not affected and least bothered (by the allegation)," he told reporters in Port Dickson yesterday.
Datuk Seri Anwar, the incoming president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), was asked to respond to a social media post which went viral on Sunday alleging that he had recently sodomised an Indonesian student in Singapore.
The post claimed that the victim had lodged a police report in Singapore and was recuperating in a hospital in the Republic.
The post was made viral by Datuk Lokman Noor Adam, a supreme council member of opposition party Umno, who claimed Singapore news outlet BERITAmediacorp was the source of the story.
But BERITAmediacorp, a Malay news site under Singapore's Mediacorp group, denied being the source of the report.
A check by The Star on Sunday found that Mr Lokman had posted on his Facebook account a correction to say BERITAmediacorp did not publish the news. He eventually removed the post from his Facebook account.
Mr Anwar has twice faced sodomy charges - in 1998 and 2008 - which he maintains were politically motivated. He was serving a five-year prison term for the second charge before he was released in May after a full and immediate pardon by the King.
He is now contesting in the Oct 13 by-election in the Negeri Sembilan beach town of Port Dickson, to pave the way for his return to Parliament.
PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said he had lodged a report on the post at the district police station at 11am yesterday.
"I have also asked friends in other states to lodge reports so that appropriate action can be taken against those who spread fake news," he said.
Mr Fahmi said the "vicious post of allegation and slander" was an attempt to change the public perception of Mr Anwar in the run-up to the Port Dickson by-election.
