but it's not the time
In 1997, Anwar Ibrahim was the deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, and very likely to succeed Mhd Mahatir after the latter's retirement. In 1998, after some conflicts within the party, Ibrahim was accused of the crime of sodomy and corruption, was sacked from his position and jailed. In 2004 he was cleared of the charges, but unable to hold political office again until 2008. In the intervening years, it has been widely accepted that the charges were politically motivated, and earlier this year his political party made enough of a sweep of the national elections that Ibrahim is now the leader of the opposition in Malaysia, and there have been calls for the current PM to resign, evidence of his failure as leader.

Police in Malaysia are currently, as in just this week, investigating Ibrahim on renewed allegations of sodomy.

Leaving aside my feelings on sodomy as a crime (ie, it shouldn't be), the fact that an identical accusation has been leveled at him is so politically stupid, either for him as a politician (if he was actually cracking on to aides) or for his political opponents (for trying the same thing again), that words cannot express my feelings right now. Of course any sexual assault charge (as some papers are touting it) is serious, but given the history of the situation and the current political situation in Malaysia, I'm feeling some (more than usual) prejudice against UMNO right now.

Links: BBC; The Star; Al Jazeera English.