Only in Malaysia...

I was living in Singapore when Anwar was sacked.

Malaysian dissident politician Anwar Ibrahim on Friday sued former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for defamation after Mahathir refused to apologize for calling him gay.

Anwar's counsel, Sankara Nair, filed the suit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, setting the stage for yet another legal battle between the two who were once close friends and colleagues but became bitter foes after a fallout eight years ago.

Mahathir, who retired in October 2003, reiterated late last year that he fired Anwar as his deputy in 1998 because his alleged sexual orientation made him unfit for office.

"I cannot have a sodomizer in my Cabinet ... Imagine a gay P.M. ... nobody will be safe," he told reporters in September. Sodomy is a crime in this conservative, mostly Muslim Southeast Asian country.

I doubt this will get to trial. Mahathir used to give speeches accusing the Jews of being behind the Asian currency crisis in the late 90s.