WikiLeaks' latest dump was not without relevance to Malaysia - it includes a cable that deals with Anwar Ibrahim's much-discussed sodomy case (sodomy is illegal in Malaysia), with an opinion expressed within a conversation between Singapore and Australia. Excerpts here:
"The Australians said that Singapore's intelligence services and [Singaporean elder statesman] Lee Kuan Yew have told ONA in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar 'did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted'...The document says the Singaporeans told ONA they made this assessment on the basis of "technical intelligence", which is likely to relate to intercepted communications.
The ONA is also recorded as saying that Mr Anwar's political enemies engineered the circumstances from which the sodomy charges arose.
"ONA assessed, and their Singapore counterparts concurred, 'it was a set up job and he probably knew that, but walked into it anyway','' the cable states.
Emphasis mine. Anwar responded via Twitter, saying "Source? Polis SB Msia. Bukti tak ada. (The source? Malaysian police special branch. There's no proof of any such thing)." But now he's taken an additional step of filing a court appeal against the newspapers printing the story:
Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair told AFP he will file a complaint with the court hearing Anwar's sodomy case over articles in the local media which could affect the former deputy premier's ongoing trial.
I think there's little question that Anwar's jailing in 1999 was mere persecution by prime minister Mahathir Mohamad -- that conviction was later overturned. When it comes to the more recent case, it's interesting at least that global intelligence services had an opinion that this did indeed take place, but was from its inception a "set up job."
