MALAYSIA: WAN AZIZAH ISMAIL, WIFE OF JAILED FORMER DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER ANWAR IBRAHIM COMMENTS ON TALKS WITH MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE

Record ID: 325010

  • Title: MALAYSIA: WAN AZIZAH ISMAIL, WIFE OF JAILED FORMER DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER ANWAR IBRAHIM COMMENTS ON TALKS WITH MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE
  • Date: 16th November 1998
  • Summary: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (NOVEMBER 16, 1998)(REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF HOUSE OF WAN AZIZAH ISMAIL, WIFE OF ARRESTED DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER ANWAR IBRAHIM 0.03 2. MV REPORTER INTERVIEWING WAN AZIZAH ISMAIL WIFE OF ANWAR IBRAHIM 0.11 3. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAN AZIZAH ISMAIL SAYING:"We had a very good meeting, it was really warm very cordidal and she was very warm towards me. I really felt very nice very welcoming in a sense that she took time off to give me, to see me to meet up with me after a very tight schedule because she was called earlier home." 0.37 4. SCU FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH 0.43 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAN AZIZAH ISMAIL SAYING "She said she will give me a lot of support and in that sense she was very committed to the human rights issue, the basic human rights. And then of course we spoke about the judiciary and I hoped and prayed for fair and open trial And as the trial unfolds I thought, I think, people can judge for themselves so I -- we both spoke about that." 1.18 6. SCU WAN TALKING TO REPORTER 1.21 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAN AZIZAH ISMAIL SAYING:"Kenneth Starr is the prosecutor, I am not and I am the wife of a detainnee. Why not? If leaders want to see me, because they knew my husband as one of the collegues and they have met him, they have dealt with him had working visits with him and now he has been detained, why not to see me?" REPORTER ASKING WHETHER WAN IS DISAPPOINTED ABOUT AUSTRALINA PRESIDENT JOHN HOWARD MEETING PRIME MINISTER MAHATHIR (SOUNDBITE) (English) WAN SAYING:"No ofcourse not, I think Mr Howard is very good and forthright and he, I am sure in his meeting with Dr Mahathir will tell his point of view as he has been saying in the press before. Australia is our neighbour and we live in this neighbourhood so I think it is very good for our leaders to meet." 2.25 8. MV WAN TALKING TO REPORTER 2.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st December 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
  • Country: Malaysia
  • Reuters ID: LVA2QWCQ3TYRMWOHZPAV5AYLUOGA
  • Story Text: Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of jailed Malaysian
    Deputy Prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, has said the United
    States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright expressed strong
    support during their meeting at the weekend.

    Wan Azizah described her meeting with the United
    States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Sunday
    (November 15) as very warm.

    In an interview with Reuters on Monday (November 16) Wan
    Azizah said the Secretary of State had shown strong support
    for the defence of human rights.

    Wan Azizah met with Albright in a hotel on Sunday, shortly
    before Albright returned to the United States to deal with the
    Iraq crisis.

    Albright and Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz
    sparred in public on Sunday.After Albright defended her
    decision to meet Wan Azizah despite Malaysia's view it
    amounted to meddling in its affairs, Rafidah said she might
    consider seeing Kenneth Starr if she went to the United
    States.

    Starr investigated Clinton's affair with former White
    House intern Monica Lewinsky.

    Albright objected, saying of Starr: "He is not a
    prisoner." State Department spokesman James Rubin called
    Rafidah's comparison of Starr with Wan Azizah "pathetic".

    Wan Azizah said: "Kenneth Starr is the prosecutor.I'm
    not.I'm a wife of a detainee.Why can't the leaders see me if
    they want to? They knew my husband as one of their colleagues.

    They have met him, dealt with him, worked with him, and now
    he's been detained.Why not?"
    Wan Azizah said she had no objection to Australian Prime
    Minister John Howard's decision to meet Mahathir on Monday.

    "I'm sure in his meeting with Dr Mahathir he will tell his
    point of view as he has been saying in the press before," she
    said, referring to Howard's repeated expressions of concern
    over Anwar's arrest and trial.

    Howard went ahead with a bilateral with the APEC host,
    despite the refusal by the U.S.and Canada to meet with
    Mahathir because of the treatment of Anwar in custody.

    Anwar has pleaded not guilty to five charges each of
    corruption and sodomy, and is standing trial in the capital's
    High Court.

    The govenment, seeking to avoid publicity for the case, ,
    has ordered a temporary halt to procedings during the APEC
    conference.
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