Malaysia's Anwar arrested - lawyer

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By Jalil Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian opposition figure AnwarIbrahim has been arrested, his lawyer said on Wednesday,setting the stage for a political showdown that could furtherrattle the country's financial markets.

The former deputy premier had agreed to meet police onWednesday on a sodomy complaint lodged by a former aide, andpolice had warned they would arrest him if he did not show up.

Anwar's lawyers had said he would go to the police forquestioning at 7 a.m. British time, but the arrest came aboutan hour before that.

"This is most unbecoming," Sankara Nair, Anwar's lawyer,told reporters. "We have agreed to come. This is not right."

Anwar, who is leading a charge by the opposition to seizepower by September, is fighting the sodomy accusation, in areplay of scenes from a decade ago when he was jailed forsodomy and corruption and his political rise snuffed out.

Anwar's supporters have cast the sodomy allegation as anattempt by premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government toprevent the opposition from gaining ground.

The arrest is likely to spark more tremors in financialmarkets, which have groaned under the weight of a protractedpolitical drama that includes allegations of sex and murderagainst a senior government politician.

"Investors will probably shy away for a while until thesethings settle," said Wee Kim Hong, head of research at M&ASecurities.

"I don't think anybody will want to commit to a longposition for now."

Malaysia's ringgit currency had weakened to 3.2260 to thedollar as of early afternoon from 3.2160 on Tuesday. The stockmarket was down 0.23 percent to 1,125.03 points by midday,before news of Anwar's arrest. It has fallen about 5 percentsince the start of July.

The authorities sealed off roads to the police headquarterswhere Anwar had been brought, while a water cannon was onstandby and a helicopter circled overhead, as the authoritiesbraced for a possible repeat of 1998 protests.

Anwar's arrest then brought tens of thousands onto thestreets.

He was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and laterjailed for corruption and sodomy after leading street protestsagainst then premier Mahathir Mohamad's government during theAsian financial crisis.

The supreme court overturned the sodomy conviction sixyears later.

Anwar had earlier on Wednesday appealed for his supportersto remain calm if he was arrested.

"I appeal to them to exercise patience and let us deal withthis according to standard procedures," he said.

"We will challenge on every ground."

He was speaking to reporters after meeting anti-corruptionagency officials over his claim the attorney-general and policechief fabricated evidence in his assault case a decade ago.

Abdullah's Barisan Nasional coalition is still trying torecover from a disastrous showing in a March general election,where it lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority and cededfive states to the opposition.

Anwar was barred from standing in that election, but hopesa resurgent opposition can force a new vote for which he willbe eligible.

Public anger against rising prices and a series ofpolitical dramas have added to the government's unpopularity.

(Additional reporting by Niluksi Koswanage and Soo Ai Peng;Writing by Liau Y-Sing; Editing by Jerry Norton)