What's new: Anwar the 'beggar' and his 'luxury mansion'

Almost every week, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim will come under some form of personal attack. The past week alone saw at least two allegations coming from staunch UMNO loyalists.

Last night, UMNO-linked right wing group Perkasa attempted to house all such attacks under one roof, by formally introducing its answer to the Anything But UMNO (ABU) movement supported by Pakatan Rakyat.

Launching the 'Reject the Individual Named Anwar Ibrahim', or known by its Malay acronym 'Tibai' which means 'wallop', Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali claimed that after his dramatic sacking in 1998 as deputy prime minister and all other government posts, Anwar had come to him pleading "to tell Mahathir to give him a second chance".

Ibrahim, who during the reformasi period of the late 1990s held several sparsely attended demonstrations accusing Anwar of homosexuality - the reason which then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had given for sacking his deputy - said he had known Anwar since the 1970s.

Yet, despite portraying himself as influential, Ibrahim said Anwar had summoned him and not the other way round.

"He called me and told me to come. He begged me to tell Mahathir to give him a second chance," added Ibrahim.

Luxury mansion

The other allegation last week is even more blatant, when UMNO blogger 'Papagomo' published a picture of a house in the United States which he claimed belonged to Anwar.

The sexually explicit blog had earlier promised visitors to show a photograph of a Washington DC mansion which it said would be Anwar's retirement place given as a gift from his "American friends".

However, several blogs managed to track the image to a high-end real estate website hosted by Luxury Home Magazine, which uses the same image to introduce its business.

The exposure recalls a similar incident last October when UMNO bloggers cropped a photo of an international chess champion, claiming she was the victim of a sexual misconduct which they said was committed by the son of Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng.

Before the lie was exposed, Bukit Gelugor UMNO division chief Novandri Hasan Basri and UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had indulged in snide remarks on Twitter, prompting the label "ferocious beasts" from Lim.

-Harakahdaily