KUALA LUMPUR: Tens of thousands of people gathered at a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) rally at the Malawati Stadium last night to express their support for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The rally was called at short notice after the de facto leader of the party was accused of sodomy for the second time in 10 years.
Anwar is alleged to have sodomised his 23-year-old aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan on Saturday and sought refuge at the Turkish embassy the next day.
The supporters gathered after being informed via text messages that Anwar would make an address on the latest allegation against him, as well as on a pre-planned by-election.
Arriving at 10pm, two hours after the crowd had gathered, Anwar was greeted with a standing ovation.
Apart from characterising the latest allegation as “dirty tactics”, Anwar said he would put up a fight against government leaders, including the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.
Anwar also said he would not announce a date for the by-election, but indicated that he had decided on the place that he would contest in.
He added that he would not reveal the name of the four Barisan Nasional members of parliament who were rumoured to be jumping ship.
Anwar’s speech ran for slightly over an hour and the crowd continuously chanted “Reformasi”.
Also present were Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, Selangor exco member Dr Xavier Jayakumar, party vice-president Azmin Ali and most of the PKR MPs.
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