Anwar says by-election plan delayed

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says that his plan to contest a parliamentary by-election has been derailed for the time being, after a young aide accused him of homosexual assault.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday his plan to contest a parliamentary by-election has been derailed for the time being, after a young aide accused him of homosexual assault.

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"It has been derailed for some days," he told a news conference at his party headquarters outside Kuala Lumpur. He said on Monday the sodomy accusation was part of a political conspiracy to keep him from running for parliament.

Anwar vowed at the news conference to fight "every inch" against the sodomy allegation, which surfaced as the revitalised opposition under Anwar was making moves to engineer parliamentary defections aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government.