His ministers in the Cabinet too are pressing hard in the local press that there is no conspiracy against Anwar and they were joined by Tun Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister in their claims. Mahathir, in his sarcastic way, said the case this time was more likely to be true since the government was not stupid to build up a sodomy case against Anwar once again.

He insisted that the government could have found other things to accuse Anwar of but since there were none the sodomy accusation this time around must be true.

To many observers however, the statements by Wan Azizah is seen as genuine since she has gone through the first sodomy case against Anwar during the time Mahathir was Prime Minister. These observers however doubt Mahathir’s statement saying that there is a greater possibility now that the first sodomy case against Anwar was a complete fabrication.

They argue that Mahathir’s insistence that the present case against the former Deputy Prime Minister is true is indicative that the first case was a conspiracy and this should lend the opposition to maintain that the present case is a political conspiracy too.

Mahathir’s supporters will surely claim only fools would understand his statement regarding the present sodomy case as a sarcastic remark. Everything for Mahathir is now sarcasms, even the ‘Correct, correct, correct’ statement by a lawyer heard fixing the appointment of judges, an incident that Tun Mahathir claimed he forgot perhaps sarcastically, said one of the observers who hails from the PKR.

“This is all about politics. There is no way it is not a political conspiracy. Many people say it is an evil conspiracy, evil to anyone and not only to Anwar,” said Wan Azizah in one of her strongest condemnation of the case.

She added that the authorities wanted to show their strength by acting tough against Anwar after the debate in which he literally destroyed the credibility of the Malaysian Minister of Information, Shabery Cheek.

She said Anwar’s popularity took a critical height after the program which was showed live on local television and on the internet. It was Anwar’s first real television appearance since he was fired as Deputy Prime Minister in 1998.

Wan Azizah said the case was purely political and a conspiracy because Anwar was arrested manu-militarily by commando police while he was reaching his house. She added that this was a political statement by the authorities which staged a ‘drama’ to scare off Anwar and his supporters.

“In 1998 it was the same dramatic move by the police and now it is like a movie that we have seen before,” she said.

She also questioned the fact that the police and the government – and an MP of the majority in Parliament – are persistent in asking for a DNA sample of the former Finance Minister. Anwar was also Minister of Finance when he was in government in 1998.

“Why does the police and the government insist that he give a DNA sample since we know that police already has such a DNA sample since 1998. We have seen how many of the evidence were planted in 1998 and we believe the same will occur now,” she added.

She also pointed out to the Star newspaper that there was conflict of interest in the present case which involves people whom Anwar Ibrahim has accused and are under investigation by the authorities for their involvement in the first sodomy case.

Anwar, she said, is now seen as a greater threat to the government. ‘After the debate, the challenge became much stronger and Anwar showed during the debate that he can run the country,” Wan Azizah reportedly said.

Based on the previous experience, the PKR find it hard to work closely with the police and the relevant authorities because their credibility is being questioned, said Wan Azizah.

"We can’t give full trust to the police, that’s why we are taking slow steps, because we have had it before,’ she said.

Wan Azizah said her party and her lawyers did not trust the police since they promised her husband will be released the night of his arrest but instead he was held in custody for one night and made to sleep on the floor in a hard core criminal cell.

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