Prisoner to PM: Anwar’s long ride
Becoming Malaysian leader caps roller-coaster political journey
More than two decades after his dramatic ouster from government and imprisonment, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim finally had his day.
Anwar was named Malaysia’s 10th prime minister by the nation’s king on Thursday night, trumping a Malay nationalist leader to clinch the top job.
Becoming prime minister caps Anwar’s roller-coaster political journey, from a former deputy prime minister whose sacking and imprisonment in the 1990s led to massive street protests and a reform movement that rose into a major political force.
It is a second victory for his reformist bloc, which won 2018 polls but lost power after 22 months due to a power struggle that led to continuous political turmoil.
Last Saturday’s election, which was supposed to end the instability that had led to three prime ministers since 2018, instead produced new uncertainty after no party won a clear mandate. Anwar emerged victorious after smaller blocs agreed to back him.
Still, he faces a tall task in bridging racial divides and reviving an economy battling inflation and a currency that has fallen to its weakest point.
“Anwar’s political struggle is of a comparable level as (South Africa’s) Nelson Mandela, as both went through many persecutions in the process of democratising their countries,” said Ei Sun Oh from Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs.
“It is hoped that with Anwar in charge, Malaysia could revert to a more open and inclusive society and economy that would hopefully restore its prestige on the world stage.”
Anwar, 75, had been on the cusp of power twice.
A firebrand youth leader, he founded an Islamic youth movement before he was recruited into the thenruling United Malays National Organisation.
He enjoyed a meteoric rise to become deputy prime minister-cumfinance minister in the 1990s. He was groomed to take over from thenPrime Minister Mahathir Mohamad but a bitter fallout over Malaysia’s response to the Asian economic crisis saw Anwar sacked in 1998, detained without trial and then charged with sodomy and corruption.
Tens of thousands took to the streets to protest Anwar’s treatment.
When Anwar was brought to court with a black eye nine days after his arrest — due to an assault in custody by the country’s then police chief — it quickly became a symbol for his new People’s Justice Party and its vows for reforms.
He was jailed six years for sodomy in 1999 and a year later, another nine years for corruption — charges Anwar said were a political conspiracy.
His case drew international criticism with Amnesty International calling Anwar a “prisoner of conscience.”
Anwar was freed in 2004 after Malaysia’s top court overturned his sodomy conviction, a year after Mahathir stepped down as prime minister after 22 years in power.
But he was imprisoned a second time for sodomy in 2015 — in a case he said was aimed at crushing his alliance which was making gains against the UMNO-led government. Yet, he didn’t give up.
From his prison cell, Anwar made up with Mahathir, who returned to politics.
Their reunion led to historic 2018 polls that saw the unthinkable ouster of the UMNO-led alliance, which had led since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957.
Mahathir became the world’s oldest leader at 92 after the victory. Anwar was pardoned shortly after and would have succeeded Mahathir, but infighting led to their government’s collapse just after 22 months.
UMNO returned as part of a quarrelsome government with Muhyiddin’s National Alliance bloc that includes a hardline Islamic ally.
Still, the brief rule by Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan led to a significant upheaval as once-power UMNO leaders were jailed or brought to court for graft.
Anwar campaigned on a multiracial platform, promising to end racial and religious bigotry and plug billions of dollar lost to entrenched corruption.