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Anwar under the radar in
Malaysia
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR - Gone are the neck brace,
the walking stick, the wheelchair and the tired,
exhausted look that distinguished Anwar Ibrahim
after 1998, when he was sacked from his position
as Malaysia's deputy prime minister and jailed for
corruption and sodomy after trials universally
condemned as unfair.
The 57-year-old Anwar
who walked onto the stage of a posh hotel here
last week to speak before a packed audience of
supporters and foreign diplomats was a picture of
health. He was suave, confident, articulate - and
on the attack.
At the receiving end of his
assault was retired prime minister Mahathir
Mohamad, Anwar's former mentor-turned-nemesis, who
was accused of owning large stakes in media
companies, of allowing rampant official corruption
and of being responsible for blatant human-rights
abuses.
Former speaker of the Indonesian
parliament Amien Rais and Thai senator Kraisak
Choonhavan also spoke at the function, a forum on
political reform in Southeast Asia, giving Anwar's
political comeback plan added weight.
In
Malaysia, Anwar insisted, corruption is endemic,
unemployment is on the rise, police abuses go
unchecked, and democratic institutions have been
weakened.
After several weeks of
recuperation on his release from jail last
September - after the country's highest court
acquitted him of sodomy charges - and then several
months in Europe, the Middle East and the United
States on the lecture circuit and as an honorary
academic at Oxford and Johns Hopkins universities,
Anwarreturned to Malaysia to re-launch his
political career.
The charismatic former
deputy prime minister has vowed to press ahead
with reformasi (reform) and unite and strengthen
the disparate opposition to face the government of
Abdullah Badawi in general elections due in 2008.
Anwar has also toured the country,
speaking at political rallies to demand an
independent investigation into the corruption of
past and present leaders. He has promised to
bridge differences and exploit common ground to
unite the Islamic Party of Malaysia (Parti Islam
Se-Malaysia, or PAS) with the Chinese-based
opposition Democratic Action Party, a secular
group defending middle-class values.
All
well and good, but while several thousand people
attended the forum and the rallies, Anwar's
message has not gone beyond that select group of
people who are already converted to his cause and
firm believers in reform.
For the general
public, Anwar has simply disappeared from the
political scene. The reason: the
government-controlled media, the only media
allowed free rein in the country, has completely
blacked out the challenger.
"Has Anwar
sneaked back into the country?" was how a doctor
reacted when this reporter told him Anwar spoke at
a forum on politicval reform. "I did not read it
in The Star," he said, referring to the
mass-circulation English-language tabloid that,
because of strict controls and censorship, can
truly boast, "If we did not report it, it did not
happen."
Anwar has been transformed from
an establishment figure whose every word was
dutifully reported into an opposition icon whose
every move must be assiduously ignored. No editor
dares violate the government order to black him
out, and with it in place, Anwar faces an uphill
task in making his plans known and his presence
felt. While the alternative media and
Internet-based news websites such as
Malaysiakini.com give prominence to his campaign,
their reach is short.
Privately, editors
have been told Anwar is a security threat because
he would split the majority Malay community, whose
unity and well-being is the bedrock of stability
in this multi-ethnic society.
"The
instruction is preferably not to report, and
otherwise report the inconsequential aspects in
the inside pages," a veteran journalist told Inter
Press Service, requesting anonymity.
In
the vernacular newspapers read by the Malay voters
Anwar needs to win over, he is portrayed as a
traitor. "He is a traitor, he ruined the economy
and shamed the Malay race," is a common and often
repeated refrain.
It is not difficult to
block news about Anwar or - the other side of the
coin - to unfairly attack him, because the
country's newspapers and television stations are
directly or indirectly owned by political parties
in the ruling 14-party National Front coalition.
"We are like government servants - there
is no room to disobey in the first place," said
the journalist.
Malaysian universities and
Malaysian students abroad are also warned against
attending lectures given by Anwar on pain of
losing their scholarships.
In addition,
election laws also work against the politician.
Because of the corruption conviction, he is barred
from holding office or contesting in elections
until 2008. This law can only be circumvented if
the king grants a pardon. But Anwar has refused to
ask for one, arguing it would be an admission of
guilt.
"I am the victim and totally
innocent," he has said repeatedly. But his
supporters, some of them very senior retired civil
servants, submitted a petition to the king in May
to grant the pardon.
Political analysts
say there is little chance of that happening
because even if the monarch is amenable, the
constitution says he must act on the advice of the
government. Several veteran government ministers,
many of whom remain loyal to Mahathir, are
implacably against a pardon for Anwar. (Mahathir
had groomed Anwar as his successor but turned on
him after 1998, when Anwar questioned his policies
and spoke out against official corruption).
To Anwar's inner circle, the real obstacle
to his comeback is public perception of the man
after seven years of relentless government
propaganda, first under Mahathir and now under
Badawi, portraying Anwar as the very incarnation
of Satan - indecent, guilty of many crimes,
corrupt, a sexual deviant and an Islamic fanatic.
Weighed down by such a negative general
perception and facing official harassment,
unfavorable election laws and a thorough media
blackout, Anwar has a mountain stacked against his
comeback plans.
Even an open invitation
last week from PAS inviting him to join the party
and lead the opposition is a doubled-edged sword.
"Fundamentalist-minded Muslims are overjoyed, but
moderates are unhappy with the invitation.
Non-Muslims must be terrified," an academic
analyst told IPS.
More than 40% of
Malaysians are non-Muslims and previously voted
against any political party allied with PAS.
At the weekend, PAS secretary general
Nasharuddin Mat Isa, a British university graduate
who is seen as a moderate, beat incumbent
fundamentalist cleric Hassan Shukri in a
three-corner fight for the post of deputy
president, and all three vice presidential posts
were won by party moderates who are not clerics,
for the first time in PAS' history. This might,
conceivably, open the door for Anwar.
Despite all the obstacles, Anwar vows to
return to politics. "I am a Malaysian, this is my
home," he said recently. "I have returned, don't
count me out."
Despite that enthusiasm, it
remains an open question whether Anwar can regain
his former pole position in Malaysian politics.
(Inter Press
Service) |
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