Anwar Ibrahim, leader of Malaysia's revitalised opposition, left the Turkish embassy on Monday where he had taken refuge following sodomy accusations, the latest thunderbolt in Malaysia's political tempest.
Anwar left the embassy around 11:45 a. m. British time via the ambassador's residence. "Only after I received assurances of my safety, (did) I leave. I'm leaving on my own volition," he told reporters.
The former deputy premier fled to the embassy early on Sunday fearing for his security after police began investigating a young aide's allegation that Anwar had homosexually assaulted him. Foreign Minister Rais Yatim had summoned the Turkish ambassador on Monday to complain that Turkey had interfered in Malaysia's internal affairs.
Anwar said he would cooperate with the police investigation, but feared a repeat of a similar drama a decade ago when he was accused of committing sodomy with the family driver and a political aide.
Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and then jailed for corruption and sodomy after leading street protests against then premier Mahathir Mohamad's government during the Asian financial crisis. The Supreme Court overturned the sodomy conviction six years later.
"I pray that enough will be done for my security," Anwar, dressed in a black suit, said before climbing into his vehicle. "The new allegation is a repeat of the 1998 fiasco," he said.
BY-ELECTION PLANS
In a telephone interview with Reuters earlier, Anwar said the allegations pre-empted plans to announce this week he was running for a seat in parliament in a by-election, and that four ruling coalition lawmakers would defect to the opposition camp.
The former deputy premier says he has been engineering defections aimed at overturning Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's majority in parliament at a time when Abdullah was facing pressures from his own party to step down.
