In remarks certain to infuriate the Malaysian government, United States said the arrest of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim raised "serious concerns".
"We urge Malaysian authorities to resolve this matter in a manner that builds confidence in the impartial rule of law in Malaysia," said US States Department spokesman Sean McCormack in a statement.
Malaysia earlier this month issued a formal protest to the United States over its earlier comments on the investigation into the sodomy allegations, accusing it of meddling in its internal affairs.
Government leaders have also attacked Anwar as a "snitch" for the Americans.
Two US rights groups also expressed concerns about the arrest and said they hoped the investigation into the sodomy claims was not used as a political tool to silence him.
Japan seeks more info
Meanwhile, Japan said today it will seek information on Anwar's arrest during an Asean meeting next week.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura is due to head next week to Singapore for meetings with his colleagues from the Association of Southeast Asian nations.
"Japan hopes to use the occasion to grasp the situation so as to decide how to react on the matter," chief government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.
Anwar was freed on police bail today after being arrested on new accusations of sodomy, which he dismissed as a conspiracy to thwart his plans to topple the government.
Japan considers Southeast Asia a key area of influence and entered a free-trade agreement with Malaysia in July last year.
- AFP
tunku : usa and japan, don't poke your nose here.mind your own business in your own backyard.
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9 comments:
Tunku
I was surprise when we watched the CNBC program last night the host interviewed a mat salleh foreingner i suspect a US reporter on te anwar arrest case and his outsider seems to knpow much about the case but he reported the wrong facts about the whole situation whereby again the govt was accused of planning the whole thing and we were so stunned when he mentioned that anwar the PM in waiting is a forward thinking leader and very smart politician and the Govt is a backward govt and anwar became a victim of conspiracy.
My son in law is a british and has been long in this country but he too was stunned at the US reporter and ask why the govt is so tolerable of this SODOMISER just throw him in jail for defaming the govt.
madam rochas
how is it ANY of their business? this shows one thing, with almost eerie accuracy, that Anwar has been trading promises with them.
Hello,
Now USA and JAPAN try involve in our internal matters.
Now this is the consequences we have to face. US is just going to make the situation more worse.
I do welcome the concern showned by US & Japan. Atleast we can know whether the voice of an outsider is heard or not. Being a M'sian citizen we can't een voice out anything. Our country is being used for certain politicians wellbeing only. Greed has mould most of them into a self centered person.
They need to learn their manners and let us, Malaysia handle our own issues.
this usa is bloody busy body blood sucker idiots.
have we poke our nose when their leaders of opposition leaders are charged?idiots.
take care of your bloody economy which is making yr country bankrupt soon, rather than poking yr ugly nose into other countries affairs.
annon,
Who said that being a malaysian you cant voice out anything? What about the demos in the stadium? The street demos? The blogs?
Do you like people to meddle with your own problems? They (US and Japan) have their own issues and should not meddle with our internal affairs.
we should not let the States to interfere in our national matters.i personally dont want any of their military base here in Malaysia.
with all this unneccesary drama we are going to lose more than Japan or US. this is the problem when politics takes the upper hand. just leave anwar alone.
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