AS stale as they have gotten for the public, sexual misconduct allegations against politicians have resurfaced, with Anwar Ibrahim targeted once again.

Former staffer Muhammad Yusoff Rawther, in a statutory declaration (SD), accuses the PKR president of committing a sexual offence against him at the latter’s home in Bukit Segambut, Kuala Lumpur, on October 2 last year.

Although the alleged incident took place more than a year ago, it came to light only on Wednesday, when photos of the SD, dated November 19, were shared on social media.

Anwar has dismissed the claim by Yusoff, who worked at his office from September last year to May.

The 72-year-old said on the day of the alleged incident, he was at an event to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi, and was also busy campaigning for the Port Dickson by-election.

He had given Yusoff 24 hours to verify the SD or face legal action. The 26-year-old former researcher, however, seemed to have vanished.

Anwar’s lawyer, Ramkarpal Singh, said the legal notice could not be served as Yusoff was no longer living at his listed home address.

Yesterday, Yusoff emerged to lodge a police report, urging police to investigate the alleged incident.

Will the latest accusation against Anwar be just a flash in the pan, to be consigned to the drawer of unproven sex scandals involving politicians, or will it become a longer affair?

Most allegations of a similar nature have ended up as unexplained and unresolved episodes of political intrigue, with only a handful seeing actual repercussions.

In the latter category, Anwar has been the most affected.

He was twice charged with sodomy, in 1998 and 2008. He denied the charges both times, calling them politically motivated.

On September 2, 2004, the Federal Court overturned the conviction in the first case.

In the second case, Anwar was initially acquitted by the high court, which found the DNA evidence tendered unreliable. The ruling was then overturned by the Court of Appeal and upheld by the Federal Court.

Anwar was sentenced to five years in jail before he was granted a royal pardon on May 16 last year, shortly after Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election.

Only two other major cases where politicians took the fall stand out in memory.

Dr Chua Soi Lek resigned as health minister, MCA vice-president and Labis MP on January 1, 2008 after admitting to being in a sex video. A DVD with hour-long footage of him having extramarital sex with a woman in a Johor hotel room made the rounds.

Although he returned to lead MCA from 2010 to 2013, Chua was no longer able to secure legitimacy outside the party.

Another man whose career was ended by a sex scandal was Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker D.P. Vijandran, whose affairs with different women were exposed in 1989.

The exposé was made by the late Karpal Singh of DAP, who had been given 11 tapes showing Vijandran having sex with the women that were stolen from the MIC man’s house in a burglary.

Vijandran, who lost favour in his party, has disappeared from the political scene.

Fizzled out

Other claims of infidelity that surfaced to rattle the status quo but subsequently died down include one implicating Anwar in a video purportedly filmed in Thailand.

The clip, released by former Malacca chief minister Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and then Perkasa treasurer Shuib Lazim in March 2011, showed a man said to be Anwar having sex with a woman.

Nothing came out of this after Anwar denied the allegation.

Mustafa Ali also faced troubles about a week before nomination for the 2013 general election, when a video showing a man alleged to be the then PAS secretary-general and a woman in a hotel room was circulated by pro-Umno blogs.

He denied being in the video and after that, no longer contested for party posts or stood in the elections.

Former PAS leader Mohamad Sabu, who is now Amanah president, was also linked to sexual misconduct ahead of GE14, when photos of him and a woman were widely shared online.

He refused to be drawn into the controversy, while Amanah members said his accusers were from outside the party and pointed to political attacks.

On the Barisan Nasional side, a case that caused an outcry involved Rahim, who was charged with statutory rape in 1994. The charge was later withdrawn.

Rahim resigned as chief minister and Umno Youth chief, but Lim Guan Eng kept pressing the case, accusing the government of a cover-up. This earned the DAP leader jail time for the offence of printing false news.

PKR remains the party that has gotten hit by sexual misconduct allegations the most.

A video purportedly showing deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali having sex with a former youth leader dogged him for months after it emerged in June. The episode appears to have faded away, with no updates on the investigation from police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Azmin has denied being in the clip, calling it a plot to destroy his career.

It is not the first time the economic affairs minister has been implicated. Photos of a man resembling Azmin having sex with an unknown woman were circulated in 2012 and last year, he was accused by a married woman of having an affair with her. Both allegations fizzled out after he issued denials.

Yusoff’s allegation against Anwar came amid the public discord in PKR between the president and his deputy, and just as the party was readying to convene its annual congress.

Now that the matter has been brought to police’s attention, it remains to be seen what the probe will reveal, and whether the latest salvo against Anwar will die out like earlier accusations. – December 8, 2019.