Anwar: It wasn't me in sex tape, my tummy is much smaller

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has denied he was the man in the sex video tape unveiled by a mysterious Datuk T and revealed to journalists earlier on Monday.

He said that he was at home with PKR staff, his wife, children, grandchildren and tweeting on that day and at that time. The sex video’s time stamp on Feb 21 was from 10.23pm to 10.45pm.

“Yes, I deny sternly this scurrilous attack, I categorically deny it,” he told reporters at a press conference in the PKR headquarters.

“I was told the face in the video looked like me. However, the stomach of the man was much bigger than mine.”

The frail 63-year old had reporters giggling when he showed off to them his slim abdominal area. While healthy, he still suffers from backpain incurred during a 6-year imprisonment on sodomy charges pressed by former premier Mahathir Mohamad in 1998.

The charges were thrown out and Anwar was acquitted in 2004.

Special Branch

On Monday, a man with his face half covered and calling himself 'Datuk T' startled the nation with a 21-minute sex video showing a man that looked like like Anwar romping in various sexual positions with a female prostitute of East Asian descent.

The hoopla was made possible by a co-operative mainstream media, owned and controlled by Umno and BN parties. They helped stir the news which travelled like wildfire through social networks Facebook and Twitter, when conservative agencies would scorn such a dubious source.

Anwar also confirmed the presence of Special Branch operatives at the press conference, although Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin has rushed to deny the BN was involved.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was even quicker - urging Datuk T to lodge a police complaint so that further action could be taken against Anwar.

But Anwar was unfazed, pointing to his alibi.

“Don’t drag the public and the country into this dirty politics. The media screening this morning was arranged with such care. The screening was also held for senior mainstream media editors first, guarded by the elite Special Branch," Anwar said.

“I do not know who is Datuk T, who asked me and Azizah to resign. This shows clear political motive."

The Sarawak factor

Various reasons have been offered and speculated on, including blackmail. But if that was so, why demand Azizah's resignation. She is the PKR president.

Within the Pakatan fraternity, most leaders believe the ruckus was stirred to distract the Pakatan from the Sarawak state polls, where PKR will lead the charge by contesting 60 per cent of the 71 seats available in the legislative assembly.

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud dissolved the assembly on Monday, paving the way for polls that are widely expected to be held on April 16.

“I call for Pakatan Rakyat and the public in general not to be distracted by this new allegation but to concentrate on the battle in Sarawak so we can end the corrupt government of Abdul Taib Mahmud,” said Anwar.

"Make no mistake, this is intended to panic us. BN will create as many fires as they can so that we will be too busy putting them out to do a decent job in Sarawak. But we are not going to let them," Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah toldMalaysia Chronicle.