The opposition leader became defensive the moment the video was mentioned during a press conference here this afternoon.
He had earlier appeared in good spirits when fielding questions on the Sarawak state election, chronicling to reporters his experience with the local folk here during his visits to a number of constituencies.
The reporter, a broadcast journalist from Kuala Lumpur, then cut in to ask the former deputy prime minister why he was yet to produce the Omega watch, which could prove his innocence in the fiasco.
“What has this got to do with the Omega watch? What has been established here?” he said angrily to the female reporter.
When she did not respond to his query but continued to question Anwar on his watch, the Permatang Pauh MP appeared to lose his cool and cut in again, saying, “Answer my question. What has been established?”
He then challenged the reporter, asking her if she had ever been brave enough to ask Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak about the latter’s purported involvement in the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu.
“Have you ever been brave enough to ask? Meaning, the media has to be honest and should not be hypocrites.
“It shows consistence here that they have become the tools of those who are cruel and spread slander,” he said.
In between his tirade, the reporter pressed on with her question, triggering the enraged-looking Anwar to shoot back, “I know your question is just to help Utusan Malaysia print tomorrow that Anwar failed to answer [the question]. If you truly want to find out the truth ... have you finished your question? No? Ok, ask.”
At this point, another journalist attempted to cut in with a question on the polls but Anwar waved him aside and told the media that he wanted the female broadcast journalist to finish her query.
“Let her finish. I want to show you how Umno operates,” he said.
The reporter then insisted that she was merely doing her job as a member of the media.
She then repeated her question and asked the opposition why the Omega watch, which Anwar’s wife Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had recently claimed was in her possession, was yet to be surrendered to the police.
This fired up Anwar further and he thundered, “When did the police ask for it?”.
The female reporter attempted again to cut in but wagging his finger at her, Anwar said, “You, please. You asked a question, I answer.”
The Datuk T trio behind the recent exposure of the 21-minute sex video, allegedly featuring Anwar and a foreign prostitute, had claimed that the Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader had left his watch behind in the hotel room during the time of the recording.
They said that the watch later came into their possession and surrendered it to the police recently, along with the video to aid investigations.
Anwar also said that there was no need for him to surrender his watch to the police since they had not made such a request as yet.
The central issue in the controversy, he pointed out, was the authenticity of the video.
The argument was cut short when a local Sarawak reporter came to Anwar’s defence and told the room full of reporters to confine their questions to the state elections.
At his request, applause was sounded all around.
“Yes, thank you very much. This is what the people of Sarawak want. This is a classic message.
“But some people are just interested in pornography, some people like sex and pornography. You can enjoy it but do not drag me into it.
“If you are interested in blue films, you go and participate or watch,” said Anwar. Read more
