KUALA LUMPUR: The opposition will forge on in its efforts to topple the government by mid-September, despite a sodomy allegation against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, his wife said on yesterday.

The opposition, spearheaded by Anwar’s political party, has been wooing defectors from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in its bid to seize power.

“Well, optimistically, I think we can keep to the (September) deadline,” said Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pictured right), the official leader of Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

“The expectations are very high from the people,” she told Reuters in an interview.

But she said any change of power would be smooth and peaceful.

“We don’t want to have any upheaval or turmoil … We don’t want to have the feeling of uneasiness.”

Anwar, 60, had hoped to unveil plans this week to contest in a parliamentary by-election, but said that plan had been shelved because of the sodomy allegation.

Police are investigating the accusation, but no charges have been filed.

Winning a seat in parliament would be the first step on the road to Anwar’s wider ambition of leading the opposition to power for the first time in Malaysian history.

The three-party opposition alliance made historic gains in the March 8 general election, winning five of 13 state governments and coming within 30 seats of taking control of the 222-member parliament.

Wan Azizah, a 55-year-old eye doctor by training, said she still had faith in Anwar despite the second sodomy claim in 10 years.

He was jailed for six years in the first case, but the Federal Court overturned the conviction in 2004, after Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi took over when long-time premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad retired.

“The first time it didn’t work. So they are trying to do it again. It’s not right, it’s a complete fabrication,” the mother of six said.

“Politically, Anwar was gaining strength. He has to be stopped at any costs. It’s a desperate measure.”

She said she pitied her children who have to endure the agony again.

“It saddens me, bothers me, upsets me. This they have to undergo again.”

The latest political development has weighed on the stock market, with the benchmark index losing around 3 per cent so far this week.

It closed down 1.8 per cent yesterday.

Ratings agency Fitch, said it was monitoring the impact of the political situation on economic policies.

“The concern that we have would be that the political situation begins to affect the policy outlook. There is not really much evidence of that just yet,” James McCormack, head of Asia sovereign ratings at Fitch said.

“It appears to us there is a political transition of sorts under way in Malaysia. The question is how fast does that move and how significant is it. And I think some of those answers are still unclear,” he said.

More than 7,000 people turned up at an impromptu rally on Tuesday night in the biggest show of support for Anwar since the aide complained to police at the weekend about an alleged assault at a luxury Kuala Lumpur apartment last Thursday.

Anwar told them he would not sit quietly and allow a repeat of what happened to him 10 years ago.

“We will fight. When we take over the country, the first thing we will do is to bring down the price of fuel,” he said.

— Reuters