Rice told to stay out of Malaysian affairs

Houston News.Net
Thursday 24th July, 2008

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been told by Malaysia not to interfere in the legal matter involving opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim has accused Ms Rice of meddling in Malaysia’s domestic affairs after she urged Malaysia to follow the rule of law in dealing with the sodomy accusation against Anwar.

The two officials were in Singapore for the ASEAN conference when they made their feelings felt.

The war of words began earlier this month when a US State Department spokesman made similar comments about Anwar, provoking a letter of complaint from Rais to Rice.

In response Ms Rice has dismissed Malaysia's claim that the Anwar case is an internal affair, saying: 'The United States doesn't recognize that it is simply internal affairs when a case of this kind comes up. We want to see transparency and for rule of law to be completely followed. We are always going to speak up on human rights and political cases.'

Anwar has rejected accusations of sodomy made by a male aide, saying they are another part of a conspiracy to keep him from seizing power in Malaysia.

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