KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim took refuge yesterday at the Turkish Embassy after police began probing an allegation that he sodomized his male aide, reprising a sex scandal that led to his imprisonment a decade ago.
Anwar, 60, dismissed the accusation — made in a police complaint by the 23-year-old aide on Saturday — as “a complete fabrication.” He said he fled to the embassy because he feared for his life.
The dramatic developments that began to unfold a little before midnight Saturday will further roil Malaysian politics, which have been in turmoil since March 8 elections handed the governing National Front coalition its worst-ever result.
A three-party opposition coalition led by Anwar made spectacular gains, winning an unprecedented 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament and the legislatures of five states.
Anwar has threatened to engineer defections from the National Front, which has ruled continuously since 1957, to bring down the government by September.
In a statement posted on his blog, Anwar said the political developments put his life in danger. “Certain agents” in the National Front “have initiated plots” to harm him, he said.
Several embassies offered to shelter him but Anwar chose the Turkish mission.
