PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia—Malaysia's leader urged the United States on Friday to respect his country's sovereignty by not meddling in its investigation into a sodomy accusation against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was responding to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's call for Malaysia to be transparent and to follow the rule of law in the case.
"I want to state this important point: We are a sovereign country," Abdullah told reporters. "We have our own set of laws. Whatever we do, we will make every effort to ensure this is consistent with the laws. ... That is what we do, and I hope people will respect us."
Anwar has rejected accusations of sodomy made last month by a male aide, claiming they were part of a conspiracy to keep him from seizing power from Malaysia's ruling coalition. Government leaders have denied trying to frame Anwar.
On Thursday, Rice told a news conference on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Singapore that Washington wants to "see transparency and for the rule of law to be completely followed" in Anwar's case.
Rice dismissed Malaysia's claim that the case was an internal affair, saying the U.S. was "always going to speak up on human rights cases, political cases."
Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said he told Rice in a subsequent meeting to "abstain from making untoward statements." But he added that the issue would not hurt bilateral ties.
The war of words began earlier this month when a State Department spokesman made similar comments about Anwar, provoking a letter of complaint from Rais to Rice.
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, revived his political career in March when his three-party opposition alliance won 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament, the strongest performance ever for the opposition. He says he is close to toppling the government.
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