The Selangor chapter of ruling Malay party UMNO has called for an investigation on local government agencies that authorised billboards carrying the hashtag #BebasAnwar (Free Anwar) to be put up arond the state.
Selangor UMNO information chief Zein Isma Ismail said the billboards were a challenge to the integrity of Malaysia’s legal system.
“Everybody knows that he (Anwar) is in jail for the wrong he did to Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. He is not a political prisoner,” he told Bernama today.
Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister under Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and former leader of the Federal Opposition and MP for Permatang Pauh, has been serving a five-year prison term for sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari, since February 10 last year.
His compatriots in PKR and the larger Pakatan Harapan political coalition claim his conviction and incarceration was political in nature, intended to silence the Federal Government’s chief antagonist and to sow discord among the Pakatan ranks.
#BebasAnwar billboards can be seen in several districts in Selangor, among them Ampang Jaya, Rawang, and Kepong.
Selangor is governed by a Pakatan Harapan state administration, headed by Menteri Besar Azmin Ali of PKR.
Zein called for the Royal Malaysian Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, and other relevant law enforcement agencies to probe the Selangor state government’s approval for the billboards.
“How can the Selangor local authorities approve the billboards? This is a serious matter. The billboards even carry the PKR logo.
“Their (the Selangor government’s) action is unacceptable. They are misusing the people’s money.”
