(20 Aug 1999) English/Nat
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says he has no regrets about the jailing of his former colleague and deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for corruption.
Anwar has also faced trial on sodomy charges, which he says along with the corruption charges were a political ploy by Mahathir to remove him from power.
Mahathir ended his three day visit to China with a wide-ranging news conference where he defended his nation's human rights record and criticized Western countries for failing to examine their own problems.
In his news conference before leaving China on Friday morning, Mahathir said he had no regrets about the jailing of his former friend and deputy Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar is serving a six-year jail term for corruption and faces up to 20 years if convicted for sodomy.
He denies the charges, saying they are part of a political conspiracy to quash his political challenge to Mahathir.
The prosecution in the sex trial rested its case on Friday, paving the way for the judge to issue a decision in the case.
Mahathir denied any of the charges stemmed from a personal vendetta against his former deputy.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I have no regrets at all. The law must take its course. It doesn't matter who breaks the law, the law will be applied in the same way whether he is the deputy Prime Minister or the Prime Minister or anybody else. One always forgets that he was a friend of mine. He was not my enemy at all, but when he does something wrong, he breaks the law, he will have to face the consequences."
SUPER CAPTION: Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir spent three days in China discussing bilateral trade and regional financial issues with China's President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji.
But a key topic at his closing news conference appeared to be the high profile trial at home of his former colleague.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We don't interfere with the process of the law, although some people of course will never believe this."
SUPER CAPTION: Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian Prime Minister
China and Malaysia have no need to discuss human rights, Mahathir said after meetings with China's top leaders.
The topic was not raised in his talks with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, Mahathir said at a briefing.
Mahathir said many countries needed to address the issue of human rights in their countries, not just Malaysia.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I would like to put on record that in Malaysia the Aborigines have increased in number, whereas in other countries they practically disappeared. So abuses of human rights is sic to be found everywhere. The fact that we don't say anything about it doesn't mean it's not happening in Europe. You have a tendency to look at others. Please try and look at yourselves first."
SUPER CAPTION: Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian Prime Minister
Looking ahead to a gathering of regional and international leaders in early September in New Zealand for the Asia Pacific Economic Conference, or APEC, Mahathir expressed disappointment with the power of the group.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Frankly I would say that I don't expect much from APEC. APEC has shown that it is unwilling to take decisive steps, particularly with regard to the financial crisis and preferred to refer the matter to an inferior body. So I don't expect APEC to achieve much in New Zealand."
SUPER CAPTION: Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian Prime Minister
SOUNDBITE: (English)
SUPER CAPTION: Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian Prime Minister
SOUNDBITE: (English)
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