DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang said today that Malaysians must continue to mobilise support for the release of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim although the latter "is no more the No 1 issue in the country".

He said DAP will continue to support the campaign to free Anwar, who is serving a 15-year jail term, and other reformasi activists held under the Internal Security Act.

"These were among the issues of justice, democracy and good governance for which the DAP came together with other opposition parties and non-governmental organisations o­n a common programme of reform for Malaysia more than four years ago," he said in a statement.

DAP was part of the Barisan Alternatif at its inception in 1999. In September 2001, the party cited unresolvable differences with PAS over the latter's plan to set up an Islamic state.

Lim said Anwar's issue has been displaced by the post-Sept 11 concerns about terrorism and more recently about the Iraq war and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak.

"We must recognise that the global scenarios and national political landscape have changed considerably in the past two-and-a-half years, and o­ne result is that Anwar is no more the No 1 issue dominating the consciousness of Malaysians."

He added the displacement of the Anwar issue could not "make right what is palpably wrong or acceptable what is rank injustice".

However, he noted that such "altered scenarios should be taken into account so that they are fully and properly factored into the strategy to mobilise Malaysians to continue their full support for the campaign".

Anwar was convicted of corruption charges in April 1999 and sentenced to six years' jail. He was also sentenced to another nine years in August 2000 for sodomising the former driver of his wife.

His appeal against the sodomy convictions is pending in the Court of Appeal.

Meanhile, Lim said the annual report 2002 of the National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) released last week was not "fully comprehensive and authoritative" as it had failed to make any reference to Anwar's imprisonment.

He said this was because Anwar's imprisonment was the most high-profile case of human rights violation in the country ever.

He said the United States report o­n human rights practice, in contrast, has maintained that Anwar and other reformasi activists were "political prisoners".

The report released by US State Department o­n March 31 said serious human rights problems remained in Malaysia during the year, including the failure to rectify irregularities in Anwar's previous trials.