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US rejects claim that Anwar case is an internal affair

SINGAPORE: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday urged Malaysia to be transparent and follow the rule of law in dealing with the sodomy accusation against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
(Adakah perlakuan di atas menghormati hak asasi manusia?)

"The United States has long spoken and will continue to speak up about cases that we think need to be thought about in terms of the political circumstances,'' said Rice, who is here to attend a regional security conference.

"We want to see transparency and for rule of law to be completely followed there,'' she told reporters just before going into the 27-nation meeting. "We are always going to speak up on human rights cases, political cases, but we do so in a spirit of respect for Malaysia.''

Point to ponder: Dalam keadaan sekarang, siapa yang bersikap tidak telus dan tidak mahu mengikut rule of law? Siapa yang bersikap acuh tidak acuh terhadap prosedur perundangan dan cuba untuk melambat-lambatkan proses penyiasatan bagi menyelesaikan kes? Hak asasi manusia yang mana yang terjejas dalam penyiasatan ini sehingga memerlukan campurtangan Amerika? Bukankah Amerika durjana juga telah melanggar hak asasi manusia dan masih terus-terusan melanggar hak asasi penduduk dunia? Guantanamo Bay, pembunuhan rakyat Iraq yang tidak berdosa, pencerobohan di Afghanistan? Apa semua itu?

(Masihkah ini menjaga hak asasi manusia?)

Rice said "part of the comfort level or the confidence that states need to bring to the international system is that their judicial systems are indeed responsive to rule of law and (are) transparent and fair.''

Saya ingin mencabar mana-mana pihak untuk menunjukkan dengan jelas aspek perundangan dan kehakiman yang mana dalam kes Anwar peliwat ini yang tidak mengikut tatacara dan tidak bersifat telus dan adil.

She also rejected Malaysia's claim that the Anwar case is an internal affair.

Jelasnya, mereka menggunakan alasan dangkal i.e. hak asasi manusia untuk terus-terusan masuk campur dalam hal ehwal negara luar. Sungguh malang bagi Anwar yang konon sayangkan negara dan bangsa sanggup dijadikan alat oleh Amerika...murahnya harga diri dan maruah beliau...patutla tidak segan silu untuk melakukan perbuatan terkutuk yang merupakan amalan biasa buat orang-orang Amerika kini....

"The United States doesn't recognise this very firm barrier that it is simply internal affairs when a case of this kind comes up, but we are going to continue to work with Malaysia,'' she said.

Rice's comments were the first public remarks in response to a protest letter that Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said he sent to her earlier this month. Rais also attended Thursday's meeting.

In the letter, he expressed regret about the earlier US comments, which he said were "uncalled for'' and tantamount to interference in Malaysia's affairs.