Detain Anwar now, police told

An NGO says the opposition leader might do a Sirul before the verdict on his sodomy case.

KUALA LUMPUR: A group called Tibai has told the police to seize Anwar Ibrahim’s international passport and detain him, saying it fears that the opposition leader will flee before February 10, the date that has been set for the Federal Court to give its judgement on the sodomy case against Anwar.

Tibai spokesman Muhammad Zahid Md Arip told reporters police should take a lesson from the case of Sirul Azhar Umar, one of two policemen sentenced to death for the 2006 murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibu. Sirul is in Australia, having gone there about three months before his death sentence was pronounced last January 13.

Tibai is the Malay acronym for the General Guide to the Rejection of the Individual Named Anwar Ibrahim. It is one of numerous so-called non-governmental organisations that have emerged since the general election of 2008, when Barisan Nasional lost its two-third majority in Parliament.

Muhammad Zahid noted that Anwar had once declared he had been offered residence in several countries.

He said if detaining him before February 10 was not possible, police should at least monitor his movements closely.