By P Prem Kumar
KUALU LUMPUR
United States President Barack Obama has warned Malaysia that it must be prepared for its judicial process to face scrutiny for the jailing of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
The president said late Monday that Malaysia should prove that the high-profile imprisonment does not have a "chilling effect" on its democracy.
"Malaysia has a history of democracy that has to be preserved. It is important that if an opposition leader who is well known has been charged with a crime, that that process of how that is adjudicated and how open it is and how clear the evidence is, that is all subject to scrutiny.
"What you don't want is a situation in which the legitimacy of the process is questioned, that has an adverse impact on democracy as a whole," Obama told a group of young leaders from Asean countries in the White House on Tuesday.
The one-hour conversation video was uploaded to YouTube by the White House.
During the question and answer session, Obama was asked about the case of Ibrahim, also a former deputy prime minister and a close ally to the United States.
Obama said it is every party's responsibility to make sure that the legal process does not have a "chilling effect" on potential opposition, in a democratic nation.
"You have to respect the rights of even those people who you disagree most with, because otherwise there is no way a democracy can flourish over the long term."
Malaysia's apex court has sentenced Ibrahim to five-years jail on charges of sodomising his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan, threatening the 69-year old's political career.
Ibrahim and the opposition pact have dismissed his conviction as a politically motivated attack by the government.
