An academician has decried the ‘cyber-demonisation’ of the alleged victim who claimed he was sodomised by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

sivamurugan pandian saiful bukhari sodomy allegations penang 020708 02 Dr Sivamurugan Pandian ( right ), senior lecturer of Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Social Sciences, is disturbed by the cyber-campaign carried out by a number of websites against Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who has been labelled as the ‘villain’ in the scandal.

Sivamurugan said while Anwar is ‘innocent until proven guilty’, the same standard should applied to Saiful too.

A former aide of Anwar, the 23-year old has lodged a police report last Saturday claiming that PKR de facto leader had sodomised him on a number of occasions - the last was Thursday in a luxury condominium in up-market Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur.

“It's up to the police to probe the complain, the prosecution to press charges and the court to hand down the judgment. It’s not for us to decide whether Anwar was guilty or not,” Sivamurugan.

“Therefore, Mohd Saiful shall not be portrayed as the villain of the plot by the cybermedia before the trial,” he said.

Anwar has denied the allegations - the second time in 10 years - "as politically motivated".

saiful bukhari azlan images 300608 03 Whether Saiful ( left ) anticipated it or not, his allegation against the PKR supremo has sent shockwaves in the already turbulent political landscape in the country.

Sivamurugan declined to comment on the alleged political conspiracy behind the accusations, but cautioned that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stands to lose more grounds in the event that Anwar was charged with sodomy.

He said the prosecution would have to produce iron-clad evidence to erase all lingering doubt which many Malaysians have after the missteps in the earlier trials involving Anwar.

"Otherwise, the public’s widespread belief of Anwar's innocence will shake up the government," warned the academician cum political observer.

Gov't must do it right this time

He added that both the government and Anwar stand to gain if after the police probe, the prosecution dropped the case without pressing charges, or the court returned a 'not guilty' verdict after a fair trial.

"In such circumstances, the government's reputation will be enhanced that it had uphold the rule of law and did not interfere in the process of law and justice, and Anwar will also come out clean," he said.

anwar ibrahim shah alam stadium rally 020708 13 Meanwhile, social reform group Aliran hopes that the government will restore the waning public confidence in the country's justice process by conducting a fair and impartial police investigation on Saiful’s allegations.

Aliran treasurer Anil Netto said it was heartening to hear government assurances that Anwar would not be ‘assaulted like in 1998', but more should be done to restore public confidence in the police force, Attorney-General’s Chambers and the judiciary.

He argued that the government's failure to press charges following the Royal Commission Report on the Lingam Tape had pushed public confidence in the judiciary to a new low.

"Justice must be done and seen to be done. Otherwise, the people will not trust government institutions anymore," he said.