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Nearly three years after his release from prison, the self-styled Mandela of Malaysia is preparing to re-enter the political fray. Jane Lyons reports.
W
hen Anwar Ibrahim
was set free after six
years’ jail, he told
Nelson Mandela that
at least his had been
a short walk to free-
dom. While he ad-
mits his imprisonment has made him more
reflective and patient, it has not diminished his
resolve.
‘‘I have a stronger passion for freedom and
justice,’’ says Anwar, as he sits in his Petaling
Jaya office near Kuala Lumpur. Relaxed and
charming, he is meditative in his attention;
his speech is punctuated with laughter at his
jokes and the exclamation of his hands.
The difference, he says, between himself
and his South African counterpart is the per-
secution he continues to endure. Surveillance
and police harassment may seem incongru-
ent with this modern city of lights and its
I-can-build-higher-than-you towers but
Anwar says such restrictions are still hall-
marks of his life. Only the brave or the dedi-
cated visit him.
‘‘Malaysia is not comparable to some of the
more depressive regimes that one is more
familiar with: Syria, etc. But the system is
suppressive,’’ he says. ‘‘You are under con-
stant threat with the Internal Security Act,
you have no access to the media and for the
last five months I have been trying to get
permission to speak here in KL.
‘‘A half a century after independence and
we are still talking about independent ju-
diciary, a free media, free and fair elections.
We should not continue to give this excuse
that people are not ready, that leaders know
best; it’s the same condescension of the col-
onial masters.’’
The clarion call to end corruption is an-
other Anwar trademark and he has been cry-
ing foul over the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib
Tun Razak, and his alleged links to a high-
profile murder case. Two police from Najib’s
Special Operations Force have been charged
with killing a Mongolian model. Abdul Razak
Baginda, the model’s lover and the head of a
think tank closely tied to Najib, is also on trial
for conspiracy to murder.
Anwar says the police, judiciary and
Attorney-General have already begun to
close ranks. ‘‘I am just asking for a full profes-
sional investigation – no cover-up.’’
A
s a protege of the former prime
minister, Mahathir Mohamad,
Anwar rose quickly through the
ranks of the ruling party, the
United Malay National Organis-
ation, and was anointed deputy prime minis-
ter in 1993. But by 1997 the father-son
relationship had begun to sour. They were
diametrically opposed on economics and
things came to a head in 1998 when Anwar
and his allies tried to raise debate on corrup-
tion and nepotism in the party. He was sack-
ed in September 2 of that year.
Anwar responded by calling for reforms,
inspiring a movement for democracy, econ-
omic reforms and social justice. On September
20, thousands of people marched to Mahathir’s
residence to demand reform and the prime
minister’s resignation. Mahathir responded
with like force: Anwar was arrested that night
and charged with sodomy and corruption.
The image of his raised fist and battered
face from a prison beating, as he entered
court, went around the world. Amnesty Inter-
national declared him a prisoner of con-
science, Time Asia shouted ‘‘Malaysia without
Anwar’’ from its front cover and Al Gore
called it a travesty of justice.
With his 15-year sentence and the ensuing
street protests, his coronation as the icon of
reform and a new force in Malaysian politics
was complete. The ‘‘Anwar factor’’ was coined
to describe his political impact and cult of
personality. The Free Anwar campaign, while
lacking the global resonance of the South
African catchcry, became the new rallying
slogan of the reform movement.
In September 2004 the federal court over-
turned his sodomy charge, although it upheld
the corruption charges. Anwar was set free
but was banned from political activity until
April 2008.
He has spent the past two years lecturing
in American and British universities, and re-
turned to Malaysia in December to inject life
into a lacklustre opposition. In May a Govern-
ment threat to disband his party stopped the
juniorHB12534_SMH
Back and ready to
weave his magic
The self-styled more patient Anwar Ibrahim ... cannot absolve himself from the excesses of government. Photo: Jane Lyons
59-year-old from being officially elected
president of Kealidan, the party his wife,
Azizah Ismail, formed while he was in jail.
But there is no question among members that
he is its leader.
The Free Anwar campaign was the genesis
of the party, which has expanded into a
multiracial party. But it’s almost 10 years
since Anwar’s incarceration and the reform
movement is less a cohesive force than a
fragmented sentiment.
‘‘It’s not remembered or treated as a
movement. I think what he is trying to do is
get the party going and the opposition,’’ says
Khoo Boo Teik, an associate professor of
Murdoch University’s Asia Centre and author
of Beyond Mahathir.
Khoo says it is hard to judge the strength
and character of Anwar’s following. ‘‘There
would be a broad range of people: old, young,
even corporate figures are in there.’’
But he has no doubt that Anwar can still
wield some of his old magic. ‘‘He’s always
been a charismatic leader. He always knew
how to reach people, especially the youth,’
Khoo says. ‘‘So it’s not surprising that people
who are disenchanted with the system see in
Anwar the leader who can bring reforms.’’
Kealidan has combined forces with two op-
position parties, the Democratic Action Party
and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, to chal-
lenge the incumbent 14-party National Front,
lead by the UMNO, at the next general election.
The party has been busy organising rallies
in predominantly rural areas in the past five
10.0cm x 11.0 cols.
The Sydney Morning Herald
months. It says Anwar is drawing crowds of
between 5000 and 30,000. ‘‘I went to
Kelantan five days back; about 30,000 people
walked miles to listen,’’ Anwar says.
The blogging world is also full of high
hopes. ‘‘Rise Anwar, for the sake all
Malaysians. Kick those corrupted UMNO
leaders past and present out of the system.
They are the ones who are killing the
country,’’ screams one.
But while some believe Anwar is a phoenix
It’s not surprising that people who are
disenchanted with the system see in Anwar the
leader who can bring reforms.
rising and the general election, which is due
in 2009, will be called before April to mitigate
the still-potent Anwar factor, others believe
he cannot rise from the ashes of his past.
Like Anwar before him, Razaleigh Haji
Ibrahim is an UMNO youth leader and mem-
ber of Parliament. He says there is a differ-
ence between how Anwar portrays himself
internationally and the way people see him in
Malaysia.
‘‘This is not a kind of Mandela thing.
Anwar is a very cunning politician; he will say
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what you want to hear. After he is free now, it
is not about his principle anymore. He is
about power,’’ Razaleigh says.
‘‘He has a lot of sympathisers and support
from outside. But we are trying to build
Malaysia from inside and we hope that the
international public can get the real story.’’
Saifulbahri Kamaruddin, a journalist who
covered Anwar in the ’80s and ’90s, believes
he had little principle to begin with.
Saifulbahri wrote last year to the online
KHOO BOO TEIK, Murdoch University
newspaper Malaysiakini: ‘‘So, now the for-
mer deputy prime minister is trying to be an
angel, supposedly innocent of everything that
occurred when he was in power. It was the
same with his accusations of the government
being corrupt, the very institution of which
he had been part of for 15 years and had
enjoyed its largesse and dispensed patronage
in a way typical of UMNO even now.’’
Criticisms of Anwar have not been limited
to personal weakness; coalition in-fighting
and high-profile departures from Kealidan
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Weekend Edition August 11-12, 2007
have also raised questions about the oppo-
sition’s strength. In late June the party’s for-
mer youth chief, Ezam Mohd Noor, cut ties
with Keadilan, accusing Anwar of dictatorial
policies. The former vice-president,
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, the secretary-
general, Anuar Tahir, a Supreme Council
member, Saari Sungib, and the deputy presi-
dent, Abdul Thaman Othman, have also
joined the ranks of the departed.
‘‘I am more inclined to help the Islamic
party,’’ says Saifuddin, who still helps
Kealidan with strategy. ‘‘Of course, Anwar
was not happy about this; he believed I
should help him.’’
As for the departures from his party,
Anwar says: ‘‘I appreciate the contribution of
everyone who has contributed to the party
and I have expressed it repeatedly before this.
But we need to move on and focus on creating
a new Malaysian agenda. I cannot stop any-
body to disagree but since this is the consen-
sus among the majority in the party, we need
to focus on the future.’’
Saifuddin says Anwar is still a force to be
reckoned with but a fragmented opposition
isn’t doing him any favours.
In 2001 the Democratic Action Party left a
coalition with Kealidan and the Pan-
Malaysian Islamic Party over the issue of an
Islamic state. The DAP’s secretary-general,
Lim Guan Eng, says the party now co-
operates with Kealidan but will not return to
the coalition or co-operate with the Islamic
Party until it drops the Islamic state agenda.
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29
ENCIK ANWAR
BIN IBRAHIM
Born August 10, 1947
Wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Six children
2006 Adviser to People’s Justice Party
(Keadilan), Malaysia; chairman,
Foundation for the Future
2005 Honorary president, AccountAbility
2004-07 Visiting lecturer Johns Hopkins
Uni, Georgetown Uni and Oxford Uni
1998 Chairman of the Development
Committee of World Bank and
International Monetary Fund; named Asian
of the Year by Newsweek International
1993-98 Deputy prime minister
1991-98 Minister of finance; named
Finance Minister of the Year’’ (1996)
by Asiamoney
1986-91 Minister of education
1986 Vice-president of United Malays
National Organisation
1984-86 Minister of agriculture
1984 Elected leader of UMNO Youth
1983 Minister of sport, youth and culture
SOURCES: WORLD WHO’S WHO; ANWARIBRAHIM.COM
But concerns over the Islamisation of
Malaysia are not restricted to Democratic Ac-
tion Party. Moderate Muslims, religious
groups, feminists and political parties have
expressed concern over the rising dominance
of a puritanical Islam in national social, re-
ligious and legal affairs.
Recent cases involving apostasy, family cus-
tody and burial rights have highlighted the
subservience of civil law to the Sharia court,
and the Government has made no bones about
declaring Malaysia an Islamic country, despite
the 1957 constitution stating it is a secular one.
But Anwar doesn’t believe a de facto
Islamic state is being created.
‘‘The Malaysian constitution is unique in
which, while it is based on the liberal and
democratic system, Islam is the religion of the
federation and each state maintains control
of the administration of religion. The prob-
lem lies in the administration of the system.’’
U
ltimately the political has be-
come personal for Anwar. He
says the humiliation of his
sodomy charges and his time
in jail have changed him. At a
Shakespeare conference in Brisbane last
year, Anwar, a fan of the Bard, said the
characters spoke to him during his incarcer-
ation. They also seemed to speak about him.
‘‘In Julius Caesar you find yourself talking
to Brutus, asking him why he made the fatal
error to allow Mark Antony to address those
fickle-minded Romans,’’ he told the audi-
ence. ‘‘And then it dawns on you that you
yourself may have suffered the same over-
weening confidence in the goodness of your
cause to fight injustice and tyranny.’’
Prospero’s words from The Tempest were
even more telling. ‘‘And as the end grows near,
you discover freedom with the rediscovery of
virtue within yourself, ’’ Anwar said.
His eyes twinkle when he is reminded of
his words. Yes, he admits, they echo some of
his regrets and mistakes. ‘‘I am very passion-
ate about these issues, freedom and demo-
cracy and anti-corruption drive. I thought
this was right and therefore it has to win. I
was probably a bit too simplistic and the
forces of power and the orchestration and
machinations of the authority that don’t
share those views can make things very, very
difficult,’’ Anwar says.
As for the question of virtue, he says only:
‘‘I don’t think I can absolve myself of all the
excesses of the Government and the collec-
tive responsibility.’’
Khoo says it is futile to discuss character;
reform is not contingent on the question of
fallibility. ‘‘He was part of the system, no
doubt, but he was twice its victim as well. To
what extent Anwar will push reform depends
critically on public demands, political sup-
port and socio-economic conditions,’’ he says.
BRISBANE CAIRNS
FBA 029