Jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim will have to return to prison if he refuses to have his back surgery at a local hospital , Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said today after a briefing for foreign diplomats on Anwar's condition by the government.

The KLH, where Anwar is currently hospitalised, will return the patient to his "fully-furnished and well-ventilated cell" if he turns down the offer for surgery in the country, said the minister. However, Chua said "conservative treatment" will still be rendered to Anwar in prison.

He said Anwar had been offered by the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) on April 25 for the seventh time the options of four different surgical methods, all of which must be conducted in the country. He added the hospital cannot overrule whatever option its patient chooses.

"He had been offered four treatment options, namely endoscopic disectomy, laser disc decompression, microsurgical approach and open surgery. The choice is all his," he said

"It is up to the prison authorities to decide when to take the prisoner back if he refuses to have the operation. We can't keep him forever at the hospital," he said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar after the briefing.

The briefing, by the Health and Foreign Affairs ministries and held at Rumah Puspanita in Kuala Lumpur, was attended by more than to 140 diplomats based in the country.

Sepak-takraw

Chua said the jailed ex-deputy premier, who is suffering from a slipped disc, cannot be permitted to go overseas for surgery as this is prohibited under Malaysian laws.

"If he is a free man, he can go anywhere he wants to for medical treatment. But he is a prisoner and our laws state clearly that all prisoners must be treated locally," he said.

Chua said the government did not deny Anwar his medical rights but had given him "extraordinary privileges" not accorded to the other prisoners.

"He stayed at the KLH for 154 days, the longest-staying patient ever in our hospitals for a slipped disc. He had a panel of 11 consultants and was admitted to the first-class ward. He wasn't even handcuffed to his bed," the minister said.

Earlier, during the briefing, two doctors who were appointed by the Health ministry to be on the panel of consultants gave their views on Anwar's spinal injury.

Dr S Jeyaindran, who is responsible for Anwar's medical needs since the he was imprisoned in 1999, said he believed the slipped disc was caused by the vigorous physical exercises his patient did in the prison.

"He played sepak-takraw and we believe he injured himself during one of his games in mid-1999. Maybe he kicked the rattan ball too hard," Jeyaindran told the diplomats.

Medical issue

Syed Hamid said the briefing was to provide the diplomats with accurate information on Anwar's healthcare, since it is a "purely medical issue" and not a political issue as claimed by the opposition.

"It is good for us to give them correct information so that they can report the truth. It is also to show that we are transparent in governing the country. We do not want people to simply read websites and come up with their own speculations on the issue," Syed Hamid said.

He denied that the government organised the event because it felt an urgency to do so, adding neither was is held following requests by foreign countries.

When asked how different the government's briefing was from that of Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's on March 29, Syed Hamid reiterated the two events should not be compared.

"Under existing diplomatic convention, foreign missions only deal with the government because the international relationship is between one state and another. The opposition is a political party, you cannot put us and them together for comparison," he said.

Partisan politics

Last month, Wan Azizah, who is Anwar's wife, briefed a group of foreign diplomats and several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representatives on the spinal injury her husband has been suffering since last November.

Following this, a controversy arose with Syed Hamid criticising the diplomats who attended the Keadilan briefing for 'consorting with the opposition'. He accused the representatives, from various countries including the United States, France and Sweden, of getting involved in 'partisan politics'.

However, the US Embassy defended its decision to send diplomats to the closed-door briefing by Wan Azizah, saying that "it was a common diplomatic practice worldwide" and they "were there just to listen". Singapore shared the same view, saying "it was part of the diplomat's duties to follow political developments" in the countries where they are based.