Trouble expected ahead of Anwar trial

“There is an escalation of violence by the police,” said Tian Chua, spokesman for the activist group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).

“It looks like the government is trying to use that as a means to deter people from going back to the streets. I think that has only provoked more anger rather than fear,” he said.

Mahathir has dismissed parallels to Indonesia — where his old friend President Suharto was toppled by bloody riots in May — and said demonstrations stand no chance of ending his 17-year grip on power.

As home minister, 73-year-old Mahathir is also in charge of police and has brushed asideOpposition charges of brutality by anti-riot forces.

Some 400 people have been rounded up in illegal rallies this month — more than 250 of them last weekend alone — but no deaths or major injuries have occurred.

Police have refrained from using firearms, using water cannon and canes to disperse crowds.

But police officials have issued a blunt warning to supporters of Anwar planning protests this weekend, saying riot control methods can be lethal.

“The police can only take so much. So don’t force us to take stern action when the situation is out of control,” said deputy director of internal security and public order Mohamad Yusuf.

He cautioned against using women and children as human shields to deter police action against unauthorized rallies, which have customarily been held on Saturdays at a downtown shopping district.

“Don’t think that by using children and women as shields, the police will not take stern action. This might be true but if the police have no choice… children exposed totear gas could get injured or even die,” he said.

After being arrested on September 20 under internal security laws, Anwar was charged with five counts of corruption and five of sexual misconduct, which he dismisses as politically motivated.

His court petition for release from police custody while on trial was rejected. Four of the corruption charges are to be heard from Monday.

A large foreign media contingent and observers including Amnesty International are expected to turn up for the trial, with interest stoked by allegations that Anwar was tortured while in police custody.

The trial is expected to last 12 working days, which means it would end shortly before the November 17-18 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, in which US President Bill Clinton will participate.

There are fears that domestic unrest could mar the APEC meeting, just as rallies, led by Anwar before his arrest, escalated during the Commonwealth Games and visit of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth inSeptember.

One closely watched district is Kampung Baru, a politically sensitive Muslim community in Kuala Lumpur where local residents and demonstrators fought police for hours last weekend with rocks and petrol bombs.

It was in Kampung Baru where communal riots which shook the multi-racial country in 1969 first erupted.

Leading activist Chandra Muzaffar, a political scientist at the University of Malaya, said Malay political culture has changed profoundly since Anwar openly fought his ex-mentor Mahathir, breaking from a tradition of keeping conflict in the elite behind the scenes.

“Anwar attacked the very root of the neo-feudal relationship between ruler and ruled,” Chandra wrote in a paper, adding that only a leading member of the elite could have achieved such a feat.

He said the “dastardly assault on Anwar while in police custody” infuriated the Malay middle class and the nation as a whole.

“For the first time, many Malays have become critical of the police — an institution which theyhad always held in high esteem,” he said.