DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng declared today that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will remain as Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) Opposition Leader in Parliament even if he is jailed for sodomy.
Lim said the PR leadership have agreed that Anwar will hold on to the post “as long as he is still an MP” and until all legal avenues are exhausted.
“There is no replacement of opposition leader. Definitely no replacement. As long as he is an MP, he will not be replaced,” he told reporters after attending the launch of the George Town Festival 2011 at the Lot 10 shopping centre here this morning.
Lim pointed out that even if Anwar is jailed for sodomy, the PKR de facto leader would still have the opportunity to appeal his conviction.
“He does not necessarily lose his MP seat just because he is jailed. Like me, when I went to jail, I was still an MP. I was an MP until my pardon was resolved.
“So even if you go to jail, you can still appeal and then request for a pardon. I was an MP for six to nine months while in jail until my request for pardon was exhausted,” he said.
Lim claimed this has already been agreed on by the PR leadership.
“You can take it from me... read my lips. It is also from everyone in PR; that, I can announce, I can state this. Anything else, I cannot,” he said.
Lim refused to respond when asked if the PR leadership had any contingency plans for the pact should Anwar fail to win his appeal.
“We will announce when the time comes,” he said, and declined to say if the pact’s leaders had ever discussed the possibility.
The Penang chief minister, however, stressed that the pact will remain strong, even if Anwar is incarcerated.
“We will not break up. Whether the outcome is positive or negative,” he said.
Any rumours of a possible split in the pact, he claimed, were merely the result of “fallacies” promoted by Barisan Nasional-owned media.
“PR’s relationship will remain strong and we will continue to persevere in our efforts to bring reforms to Malaysia,” he said.
Anwar is presently facing a possible conviction for sodomy, the second in his political career, after he was called on Monday to enter his defence on a charge of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan three years ago.
This is the second time in 13 years the former deputy prime minister has to defend against a sodomy charge.
He is charged under section 377B of the Penal Code and can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping upon conviction.
He has denied the charge, describing it as “evil, frivolous lies by those in power”, when it was read out to him. The trial began 18 months after Anwar was charged in court in August 2008.
In 1998, he had been charged with sodomy and corruption after being sacked from the Cabinet, and was later convicted and jailed for both offences.
He was freed in September 2004 and later resurrected his political career by winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election in 2008, which had been held in the interim by his wife.
He earlier led the loose pact of PKR, the DAP and PAS to a historic sweep of five states and 82 parliamentary seats in Election 2008.
