SIBU, Sept 8: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V is a fair and honorable king, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Speaking to a 2,000 crowd of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) members tonight, Anwar said the moment he met the King immediately after the former’s release from prison, he was informed that it was a total release with full clean record.
“This is what the King told me: ‘Anwar, as a King, I have the power to give you a full pardon and freedom. I am doing so because I know you are not guilty of all those charges against you. It is wrong and injustice to keep you in jail. I have to tell the truth and this must be known by all,’ ” Anwar said today, adding that the King has also given him the permission to tell every Malaysian of his decision.
On May 16 this year, Anwar walked free from prison after receiving a royal pardon.
He was jailed in 2015 for five years after being accused of sodomy, a charge he described as a politically motivated attempt by then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
He was also imprisoned for six years after being overthrown as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s deputy prime minister in 1998 on earlier charges of sodomising his former family driver and abusing his power.
He was freed in 2004 after Malaysia’s top court quashed that sodomy conviction.
“The most significant lesson one can learn from prison life is the value of freedom. When you are incarcerated you realise what is the meaning and significance of freedom,” Anwar said, thanking the King and Malaysians for giving him his freedom. — DayakDaily
