Senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has yesterday continued his attacks on jailed Anwar Ibrahim, describing the opposition leader as a “closet homosexual”.

 

Can you imagine someone like him negotiating an arms deal for the country?

 

He posed this scenario at a forum organised by Umno Youth's Akademi Kepimpinan Kapten Hussein (Akhi) in Kelana Jaya last night.

 

According to Shafee, leaders who are transparent with their private lives are not as susceptible to blackmail as those who have skeletons in the closet.

 

Citing Sukarno ( left ), known for his passion for beautiful women, Shafee said the former Indonesian president was "threatened" by Soviet Union's Committee for State Security (KGB) with photographs of him having sex with a bevy of Russian women.

 

"When he went to Moscow to negotiate an arms deal, Sukarno was given nine Russian women of greatest beauty. Sukarno had a fantastic time with them.

 

"But the KGB of course tape-recorded everything. In the morning, he found photographs of himself in every position unimaginable.

 

"But Sukarno being Sukarno, instead asked for seven copies of each photographs as he wanted to take them back home because his people would be very proud. It was no secret that he was a womaniser.

 

"But can you imagine, if somebody like Anwar ( right ) was there negotiating our arms contract, and he is caught? What do you think Anwar will do?" said Shafee.

 

The lawyer who was hired by the government to act as prosecutor in Anwar’s Sodomy II trial was answering a question at the forum on how the case could jeopardise national security.

 

Shafee, when asked to comment on his battle against Anwar's formidable 14-person defence team, boasted that it would be easier for him to win a case when the other side has more than three lawyers.

 

"Fighting one to one is harder, because the lawyer will concentrate [on the case]. Especially if it's a young lawyer, he or she will not take any chances and will leave no stone unturned," he said.

 

Shafee said in a situation where there are "too many generals", only one person does the thinking and the rest do the work.

 

"In the end, nobody does the work. When one person knows that he has to do everything, he will do everything. That's the reason why I think we performed better," he said in reference to the guilty verdict meted out by the Federal Court on Feb 10.

 

‘I’m no Umno lawyer’

 

Shafee also took pains to refute claims that he was an Umno lawyer, insisting that the label was "wrong".

 

"I am not even a member of Umno, I am not a member of any political party."

 

He pointed out that he had acted for now defunct Semangat 46's founder Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah ( left ) in the 1980s, which resulted in Umno being de-registered.

 

"So if you ask me, am I an Umno lawyer ... how can you even ask me that question?

 

"I am not, but I am being professional. Because I have been acting for Umno for election petitions, I cannot simply be acting for the opposite party because that will be a conflict of interests," he said.

 

He also claimed that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had later asked him why he represented his then nemesis, Razaleigh.

 

"I told him if he had approached me, I would have acted for him as the fees would be higher," Shafee quipped.

 

Shafee has also represented Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in a number of court cases.

 

Khairy, who was present at last night's forum, said Umno would not keep mum over the sodomy case despite that Anwar is now serving his five-year sentence in Sungai Buloh prison.