KUALA LUMPUR - PRIME Minister Abdullah Badawi has promised that de facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leader Anwar Ibrahim will not be dealt a 'black eye' this time around, said the party's vice-president Azmin Ali.

Mr Azmin said the Prime Minister told him this during a 45-minute meeting at the Parliament building, which started close to 9pm, reported news website malaysiakini.com

He also asked the Premier why the police had resorted to such drastic measures when Datuk Seri Anwar had promised to present himself at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.

'There were 15 commandos to arrest him when he said he will be there by 2pm. Why? Why?' Mr Azmin said to reporters.

'The PM listened to our concerns and guaranteed that there will be no 'black eye' incident,' he added, but declined to give more details on the meeting, which was said have been attended also by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz and PKR Penang chief Zahrain Mohamed Hashim.

In 1998, Mr Anwar sustained a black eye when he was assaulted by then police chief Rahim Noor while in police detention.

The latest arrest baffled legal observers because it came after Mr Anwar agreed to submit to a police interrogation, but Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the authorities suspected he was not planning to turn up.

'It doesn't matter when they moved in as they needed to have him make a statement on the investigations and he has been detained in order to carry out the investigations,' said Datuk Syed Hamid. 'Once the police have investigated fully, they will then decide whether they can move to the next stage of filing charges against Anwar.'

On whether Mr Anwar will be released, he said: 'I doubt Anwar will be released tonight as this is a very serious allegation and there are a lot of things to be investigated and the police must carry this out fully.'

Mr Syed Hamid added that the police had to verify information given by Mr Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the 23-year-old former aide who accused Mr Anwar of sodomising him.

'The police have interviewed Saiful fully and they have evidence which they now need to match with what Anwar has to say,' he said. 'The victim must not feel that he has not been given an equal opportunity under the law.'

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE