Barisan Nasional (BN) will be going on a nationwide road show, which will feature Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, to explain the Federal Court judgment on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case now that the judiciary process has ended.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said that the party has been accused and criticised for orchestrating a political conspiracy against Anwar since he was first charged in 2008, but it has kept silent all these years.
"We have kept silent for six years because the trial was in progress, fearing that we would be in contempt. We waited for the case to be over," he told some 300 people at a dialogue in Petaling Jaya tonight.
"Now that the case is over, do you expect us, as a political party, to keep quiet?"
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwuGNWj6zymcc90vV_QYR9PFQ52g7_GvJD1vNpbyWM8FvnZcXrbL5vj0ScIG7PbvRXPMWj9TNqqi_dr7kPeweqmpaZ4G7Hun0miHA2xVCzYO5ApwKSoyFatORPVlnsxLmCYy1qg3KUZqY/s1600/Anwar-Ummi.jpg)
Ummii Hafilda who was a witness in Sodomy I is often featured in pro-Umno ceramah to discredit Anwar
The dialogue tonight also featured Shafee, who was the deputy public prosecutor in the Anwar case, which ended last week after the Federal Court affirmed the appellate court's conviction.
Anwar was sentenced to five years' jail, which he began serving since last week at the Sungai Buloh prison.
Khairy, in his opening speech, said that he was "called" to answer these allegations by the opposition, on behalf of his party.
"Why are we doing this? For six years – and this was the basis of the defence – was that this was a political conspiracy by Umno-BN against Anwar.
"Despite these allegations, we kept quiet. For us in Umno, it is important for us to explain these accusations... that this case did not involve Umno and BN
"So we have brought Tan Sri Shafee to bring the truth to all of you," the youth and sports minister said, as the crowd cheered.
Shafee has come under severe criticism following the conviction for going on a tirade against Anwar despite his incarceration, with many saying that such actions were unbecoming of a senior lawyer and that by doing so, he had clearly acted beyond his scope as prosecutor representing the Attorney-General's Chambers in the sodomy appeal.
Former A-G Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman also hit out at Shafee, saying that he should have his deputy public prosecutor's licence revoked for his continued attacks on the opposition leader.
Shafee also came under fire from lawyers for saying that Anwar "hid behind a skirt" by choosing to give an unsworn statement from the dock when ordered to enter his defence at the trial stage of his sodomy case.
An unsworn statement cannot be cross-examined.
In an interview with the Umno-controlled The New Straits Times on Friday, the Umno lawyer said if Anwar had taken the stand, the torrent of questions would have been so unrelenting that Anwar would have "fainted in the witness box". – TMI
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