MALAYSIA'S JUDICIARY ENSURES EVERY PERSON A FAIR TRIAL

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's judiciary operates according to
the legal standards of any other fully developed country, requiring that every
person in Malaysia receives a fair trial, regardless of any other factor,
Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said Thursday.

"Our system honours and respects the independence of our courts to find
facts and to apply the law impartially," he said in a statement, in
response to U.S. Senator John Kerry's recent request that the Government of
Malaysia ensured that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim received a fair trial in
Malaysia's legal system.

Anwar, 63, is charged with sodomising Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, his former
aide, at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih,
Bukit Damansara near here, between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

The charge carries a maximum 20 years' jail and whipping upon conviction

Anifah said Malaysia took note of the senator's request.

He said while all citizens should avoid seeking to inflame or prejudice the
outcome of any legal proceedings, public servants in particular had the
obligation to avoid the politicization of any trial.

Anifah also said that it was best for the protection of the rights of all
parties involved in any legal proceedings, as well as for the rule of law
overall, that neither any government official unrelated to the prosecution or
the defense, nor any outside person, seek to influence the outcome of a matter
that was undergoing trial.

He said an important hallmark of the Malaysian judicial system was the
presumption of innocence while the rights of both the accuser and the accused
must be respected in any trial without bias in favour of or against either
party.

In a case involving a prominent person, it was especially important to avoid
outside pressure, so that each party had an opportunity to present their case to
an impartial, unbiased judge, he added.

"Our government is deeply committed to upholding the rule of law in
Malaysia.

"Our legal system has the obligation to proceed with this trial, not because
the accused is a prominent political figure, but because it has the
responsibility to protect all Malaysians under the law, to seek justice and to
avoid any form of prejudice regarding any of the parties to a trial," he said.
-- BERNAMA