KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar’s arrest and detention will affect Malaysia’s ties with the US as it is a sign of Umno’s “creeping authoritarianism”, financial daily the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has said. 

The US daily said Malaysia is “moving down a dark path”, with Nurul Izzah’s arrest and overnight detention occurring barely a month after her father, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was sent to jail for sodomy. 

“A month after the country’s highest court upheld the conviction of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on trumped-up charges of sodomy, police on Monday arrested Mr Anwar’s daughter for violating the Sedition Act, a colonial-era law increasingly used to chill political debate,” WSJ said in an opinion piece titled ‘Malaysia’s Creeping Authoritarianism’.

“Creeping authoritarianism won’t slow Umno’s rising unpopularity among young people, urbanites and ethnic minorities. 

“Nor will it help Malaysia’s ties with the US, which are important for combating terrorism,” the financial daily said. 

According to WSJ, 19 Islamic State supporters have been arrested for plotting attacks around Kuala Lumpur and that strained ties with the US will hinder Malaysia’s on-going efforts to combat terrorism. 

WSJ also pointed out that Western diplomats have criticised Anwar’s jailing for sodomy and that the US state department also stated last month it had “serious concerns” regarding Malaysia’s rule of law and independence of the judiciary. 

“Nurul Izzah Anwar and Anwar Ibrahim should be released for their own sake and that of a democracy sliding into repression,” the article read. 

In another opinion piece last month, WSJ had criticised the Federal Court’s decision to convict Anwar for sodomy, calling it a “pyrrhic victory” for ruling party Umno.

In its bid to stop Anwar from becoming a prime minister, WSJ said Umno had damaged Malaysia’s reputation and the fabric of society, both of which will return to haunt the ruling party in the next general election.

Nurul Izzah was arrested yesterday when she reported to the Dang Wangi police station to answer for allegedly seditious remarks she made in Parliament when she questioned the Federal Court’s decision to jail Anwar.

On February 10, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan and sentenced the Permatang Pauh MP to five years’ jail