Malaysia bars lawyer on pro-Anwar mission

Kuala Lumpur has barred Indonesian rights lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution from entering the country, preventing him delivering a petition seeking looser controls on jailed Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The government has yet to comment on why Mr Nasution was blocked, although immigration staff said the order came from 'the highest authority of Malaysia'.

Mr Nasution, a member of the International Commission of Jurists, was bringing a petition signed by 22 leading Jakarta politicians expressing support for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's jailed foe. These include the Peoples Consultative Assembly chairman Amien Rais, senior Golkar figure Fahmi Idris, and a range of Muslim, Christian and other leaders and academics.

The petition is part of a revitalised campaign to allow Anwar to seek medical care of his choosing, most probably abroad, for a prolapsed disc in his back.

The barring of Mr Nasution suggests Malaysia's rulers still fear Anwar's impact, and are not ready to consider kinder treatment towards him. It also suggests talk across the region about greater co-operation means little when it comes to burning domestic issues.

Supporters of Anwar across the region include not only members of Indonesia's political elite, but also the head of Thailand's senate foreign relations committee, Dr Kraisak Choonhavan, the Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople, Australia's former foreign minister Gareth Evans, and Thai academic Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

'There are lots of people who are wanting to help Anwar, but the question is how,' Wan Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife and leader of his National Justice Party (Keadilan), told the South China Morning Post yesterday.