By Jalil Hamid
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's opposition ismaintaining its target of toppling the government bymid-September, despite the sodomy allegation against leaderAnwar Ibrahim, his wife said on Wednesday.
The opposition, spearheaded by Anwar's People's Justiceparty, has been wooing defectors from the ruling National Frontcoalition in its bid to seize power for the first time inMalaysian history.
"Well, optimistically, I think we can keep to the(September) deadline unless we really cannot," said Wan AzizahWan Ismail, who is also the parliamentary opposition leader, inan interview. Any change of power would be smooth and peaceful,she added.
Opinion polls showed most people believe Anwar, aged 60 andthe father of six children, did not commit sodomy against anaide after he was jailed on a similar charge seen aspolitically motivated a decade ago. That conviction was lateroverturned.
A survey by the independent Merdeka Center research firmfound just 6 percent of respondents believed the allegationsand nearly 60 percent viewed it as politically motivated.
"It's going to be an uphill battle for the governmentbecause you are facing a more cynical public," said the firm'spollster, Ibrahim Suffian.The survey polled 225 ethnic Malays.
A separate poll by the independent news website,Malaysiakini (http://www.malaysiakini.com), showed 94 percentof its respondents believed Anwar was the victim of aconspiracy. The government has denied having anything to dowith the case.
The former deputy premier said the sodomy accusationpre-empted his plan to announce he was contesting aparliamentary seat in a by-election. Police are investigatingthe allegation, but no charges have been filed.
Winning a seat would be the first step on the road toAnwar's wider ambition of leading the opposition to power. Theopposition alliance made historic gains in a March 8 generalelection, winning five of 13 state governments and comingwithin 30 seats of taking control of the 222-member parliament.
PITY THE CHILDREN
Wan Azizah, a 55-year-old eye doctor by training, said shestill had faith in Anwar despite this second sodomy claim in 10years. He was jailed for six years on a similar charge, but theFederal Court overturned the conviction in 2004.
"The first time it didn't work. So they are trying to do itagain. It's not right, it's a complete fabrication.Politically, Anwar was gaining strength. It's a desperatemeasure," she said.
Sodomy, even when consensual, is punishable by up to 20years in jail in mainly Muslim Malaysia.
Wan Azizah said she pitied her children who have to endurethe agony again. "It saddens me, bothers me, upsets me," shesaid.
The political uncertainty has weighed on the stock market,with the benchmark index losing around 3 percent so far thisweek. It closed down 1.8 percent on Wednesday.
Ratings agency Fitch, said it was monitoring the impact ofthe political situation on economic policies.
"The concern that we have would be that the politicalsituation begins to affect the policy outlook. There is notreally much evidence of that just yet," James McCormack, headof Asia sovereign ratings at Fitch, told Reuters.
"It appears to us there is a political transition of sortsunder way in Malaysia. The question is how fast does that moveand how significant is it. And I think some of those answersare still unclear," he said.
The sodomy case emerged at a time when Abdullah's UMNOparty has been riven by dissent after its poll setback inMarch.
More than 7,000 people turned up at an impromptu rally onTuesday night in the biggest show of support for Anwar sincethe aide complained to police at the weekend about an allegedassault at a luxury Kuala Lumpur apartment last Thursday.
Anwar told them he would not sit quietly and allow a repeatof what happened to him 10 years ago. "We will fight. When wetake over the country, the first thing we will do is to bringdown the price of fuel," he said.
(Additional reporting by Faisal Aziz; Editing by BillTarrant and Ben Tan)
