Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, is threatening to take a PAS (Malaysian Islamist Party) politician to court over allegations that Anwar will introduce gay marriage if elected.
Alleged communist and LGBT agenda
Razman Zakaria, head of PAS in the Malaysian state of Perak, was campaigning on Nov. 7.
He made several accusations directed towards the opposition PH coalition and Anwar himself.
According to Malaysiakini, Razman had been on walkabout in Tebuk Pancur night market and was telling passers-by that Anwar had an LGBT agenda as well as wanting to legalise same-sex marriage.
Anwar has been convicted of sodomy charges on multiple occasions, although he was pardoned in 2018 following PH's general election win.
Anwar has previously said that the convictions were politically motivated.
PAS candidates
Razman, who is a running for a seat in the Perak state assembly, also repeated an accusation made by his party leader Abdul Hadi Awang.
Both have alleged that PH will form an agreement with Barisan Nasional, the coalition that has in some form ruled Malaysia since independence until 2018, and regained power after 2020.
For context, PAS is in a rival coalition, the Perikatan Nasional coalition.
Both Anwar and BN bigwig Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have denied speculation regarding a secret pact.
Razman said that because of this alliance between PH and BN, a vote for BN was equivalent to voting for the DAP, a multiracial party in PH, which would give them power and "allow them to do anything".
He also claimed that the DAP had a "Communist agenda" and that Muslims in Malaysia "must not vote for them".
Anwar responds
According to Free Malaysia Today, Anwar has issued a letter of demand to Razman on Nov. 9.
Anwar is demanding that Razman apologise and pay him RM5 million (S$1.49 million), within seven days.
He also wants an unconditional apology in the media of Anwar's choice, as well as a written assurance that Razman will not repeat the allegations again, or otherwise risk legal proceedings.
The letter said that the claims were "spurious, outlandish, and preposterous". They were also "calculated to maliciously disparage (Anwar's) reputation in the midst of the general election campaign".
A video of Razman's accusations was uploaded to his Facebook page, and the letter Anwar sent said that the post had caused serious damage to his reputation, having been seen over 43,000 times, with 1,000 comments, and 3,100 reactions by the time his letter had been sent.
Campaign continues
Anwar is running in the Perak seat of Tambun, having moved there from his relatively safe Port Dickson seat.
Both PH and BN, arguably the main coalitions in contest for the Malaysian general election, are targeting 80 seats each, which would leave both short of a parliamentary majority.
GE15, as the election is colloquially known, is being held on Saturday Nov. 19.
https://mothership.sg/2022/11/anwar-pas-slander-demand/
