Judiciary Independent And No Conspiracy In Decisions, Says Dr Mahathir

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 10 (Bernama)-- Former prime minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad said although he was surprised with the court's decision on Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case, it however proved that there was no government conspiracy or interference in the country's judiciary. Dr Mahathir said the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision Monday also helped clean the government's image and enhanced its credibility against wild accusations by certain quarters that the government was autocratic to the extent of manipulating court judges and court decisions. "I'm surprised that he (Anwar) was found not guilty. This shows that there have been no government conspiracy against him since before until now. When they found and said he was not guilty, perhaps the other party will want to appeal (against the court's decision), I don't know." Dr Mahathir said this, here, Monday after the presentation of incentives to wheelchair-bound tennis player Abu Samah Borhan who won a gold medal at the Asean Para Games held in Solo, Indonesia from Dec 15 to 19, 2011. He said the country's judiciary was always independent and was not influenced by any quarters, including the government or opposition, in arriving at any decision. "It was their (opposition's) bad suspicion that the government had conspired to fix Anwar. They thought he (Anwar) would definitely be found guilty by the court, but he was found not guilty." Dr Mahathir said the negative perception of certain quarters, including the opposition, of the country's judicial system all this while proved to be wrong and baseless. "In this country, we've seen the government found to be in the wrong on a number of occasions," he added. Earlier, in his speech, Dr Mahathir congratulated the para athletes who won 51 gold medals, 31 silver and 45 bronze, placing Malaysia in third spot among the 11 participating countries at the Solo Para Games. He said their perseverence and confidence in bringing glory to the nation through sports should inspire all Malaysians to better themselves in whatever endeavour. Also present was Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, patron of the Malaysian wheelchair tennis. -- BERNAMA