From: US observer <dontmail@me.com>

Subject: Daughter speaks up for Anwar

Date: Saturday, September 26, 1998 1:47 PM

Daughter speaks up for Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR -- The eldest daughter of detained former Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has spoken out on alleged injustices against her father, calling on Malaysians to stand up for the truth.

"I feel very angry," 18-year-old Nurul Izzah told AFP, referring to the welter of allegations against her father, ranging from sexual misconduct to sedition.

"He is an innocent man. It is so vindictive and evil. It makes me angry and very sad and I fear for my father's life," she said.

"But at the same time, I will go on. I will fight even when we are sad. My mum needs me and my sisters and my brother, they need me also."

Speaking in an interview at her home late on Thursday, the eldest of Datuk Anwar's six children described her father as a "hero" in trying to defend himself against the police allegations, taken up by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad following his dismissal of Datuk Anwar as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister on Sept 2.

"My close friends, all of them basically support my father because they have seen my father. They have met him, they know how he is.

"I just hope Malaysians on the whole will stand up because you know Malaysians are basically moderate people -- unlike Indonesians -- and I wish they would see the injustice," she said.

"If this can happen to the DPM, it will happen to them too sooner or later."

Miss Nurul Izzah, who only recently started university, accompanied her mother Dr Azizah to police headquarters on Wednesday when she was asked to appear for questioning for allegedly violating Malaysia's sedition laws.

Wearing the customary headscarf many Malay girls put on when they are 15 or 16, Datuk Anwar's daughter said she hoped Malaysians would not be "influenced by these lies" about her father.

"Islam teaches us to look for the truth and I just want them to do that and stand up for it," she said. -- AFP...