Anwar Ibrahim

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Anwar Ibrahim

In office
1993 – September 2, 1998
Preceded by Tun Ghafar Baba
Succeeded by Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Born August 10, 1947 (1947-08-10) (age 60)
Cherok Tok Kun, Penang
Political party Keadilan (previously Barisan Nasional, UMNO)
Spouse Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
Occupation Civil servant
Religion Islam

Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (born August 10, 1947) is a former deputy prime minister and finance minister of Malaysia. Early in his career, he became a protege of the former prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad, but subsequently emerged as the most prominent critic of Mahathir's administration. In 1999, he was sentenced in a highly controversial trial to six years in prison for corruption and in 2000 to another nine years in prison for sodomy. However, in 2004, the Federal Court (Malaysia's highest) reversed the second conviction and he was released.

Anwar is both a controversial and charismatic figure in Malaysian politics. He is one of the signatories of A Common Word, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding.

Contents

Anwar was born in Cherok Tok Kun, a village on the mainland side of the northern Malaysian state of Penang to a hospital porter, Ibrahim Abdul Rahman (later to join politics and retire as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health) and Che Yan, a housewife (and later UMNO politician). He was educated at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar and the University of Malaya, where he read Malay studies.

From 1968 to 1971, as a student, Anwar was the president of a Muslim students organisation, Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia (PKPIM). He was one of the protem committee of "Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)" or Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia which was founded in 1971. He was also elected President of the Malaysian Youth Council or Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM).

In 1974, Anwar was arrested during student protests against rural poverty and hunger. He was imprisoned under the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial, and spent twenty months in the Kamunting detention camp for political prisoners.

In 1968-1971, he was first groomed in the National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students (Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia, PKPIM) as the president of the Union. He was very well known as one of the most prominent student movement leaders, and gave inspiration and as a symbol of student movement in Malaysia, especially in the south-east region.[citation needed]

In 1982, Anwar, who was the founding leader and second president of a youth Islamic organisation called Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM), shocked his liberal supporters by joining the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), led by Mahathir who became prime minister in 1981. He moved up the political ranks quickly: his first ministerial office was that of Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1983; after that, he headed the agriculture ministry in 1984 before becoming Minister of Education in 1986. By then, speculation was rife about Anwar's ascent to the Deputy Prime Minister's position as it was a commonly-occurring phenomenon in Malaysia for the Education Minister to assume the position of Deputy PM in the near future.

During his tenure as Education Minister, Anwar introduced numerous pro-Malay policies in the national school curriculum. One of the major changes that he did was to rename the national language from Bahasa Malaysia to Bahasa Melayu. Non-Malays criticized this move as it would cause the younger generation to be detached from the national language, since they would attribute it to being something that belongs to the Malays and not to Malaysians.

In 1991 Anwar was appointed Minister of Finance. In 1993, he became Mahathir's Deputy Prime Minister after winning the Deputy Presidency of UMNO against Ghafar Baba.

In the early 1990s, Anwar was being groomed to succeed Mahathir bin Mohamad as prime minister, and the former frequently alluded in public to his 'son-father' relationship with Mahathir; for several months in early 1997, Mahathir appointed Anwar to be acting Prime Minister while Mahathir took a two-month holiday. Towards the end of the 1990s, however, their relationship began to deteriorate, triggered by their conflicting views on governance. In Mahathir's absence, Anwar had taken steps to improve the country's governing mechanisms which were in direct conflict with Mahathir's protectionist policies. Issues such as how Malaysia would respond to a financial crisis were often at the forefront of this conflict.

Anwar's frontal attack against the widespread culture of nepotism and cronyism within UMNO (and the ruling coalition as a whole) wrought the wrath of Mahathir when he started attempting to dismantle the protectionist policies that Mahathir had set up for the cronies and allies of the ruling coalition. The issue of cronyism was fingered by Anwar as a major cause of corruption and misappropriation of funds in the country.

Mahathir retaliated by isolating Anwar within UMNO itself, and vilifying him with what many regard as trumped-up charges whereby the verdict was pre-determined before the trials had even taken place. The events of late-1998 marked Anwar's descent within UMNO (also due to betrayals from within his own ranks) and his subsequent ouster from the party and from the Malaysian political sphere.

During the Asian financial crisis in 1997 Anwar, in his capacity as finance minister, supported the International Monetary Fund (IMF) plan for recovery which meant a restructuring of the economy involving opening up to greater foreign investment and competition. He also instituted an austerity package that slashed government spending by 18%, cut ministerial salaries and deferred major investment projects. Large-scale infrastructure development projects known as "mega projects" were set back as well, despite being a cornerstone of Mahathir's plans for "developing" the nation. These measures aroused bitter opposition from Mahathir. Unknown to many, he actually raised interest rates to an effective 24%.[citation needed] But this stifled the economy further to an extent though eventually helpful.[citation needed] This mainly angered many affected business figures some of whose business empires had developed through exclusive government contracts, cheap credit from public funds or commercial sources backed by government guarantees, concessions, and various other forms of rent seeking.[citation needed] Later Anwar claimed that Mahathir disliked the drastic cuts as they stifled the business interests of the latter's children and cronies.[citation needed] In particular, Tun Daim Zainuddin, the powerful Treasurer of UMNO and Executive Director of the NEAC (a front for Mahathir, also implicated in the METRAMAC scandal) had large holdings of Malaysian banks and other businesses that would be vulnerable to such actions. Daim was a close confidante of Mahathir (both being from the same town) and had been the Finance Minister before Anwar.

Anwar Ibrahim and daughter Nurul Iman in 1998.
Anwar Ibrahim and daughter Nurul Iman in 1998.

Although many Malaysian companies faced the threat of bankruptcy, Anwar declared: "There is no question of any bailout. The banks will be allowed to protect themselves and the government will not interfere." Anwar advocated a free market approach, sympathetic to foreign investment and trade liberalisation, whereas Mahathir favored currency and foreign investment controls, blaming (alleged) unchecked speculation by currency speculators like George Soros for the shrinking economy.[citation needed] To this day, there is much disagreement among economists whether Anwar's policies would have been more or less successful than Mahathir's. However, most of them were unanimous in denouncing Mahathir's unfounded hypothesis that George Soros was to blame.

Numerous economists such as Professor Jomo K. Sundram of Universiti Malaya proposed currency controls before the ringgit slides further, but their advice fell on deaf ears. By the time Mahathir decided to impose currency controls and preventive measures to keep hedge funds in check, it was already too late and the Malaysian economy had plummeted to its lowest level yet since the recession of the early-1980s.

In 1998 Newsweek magazine named Anwar the "Asian of the Year." However, that year, matters between Anwar and Mahathir came to a head around the time of the quadrennial UMNO General Assembly. The Youth wing of UMNO, headed by Anwar's associate, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, gave notice that it would initiate a debate on "cronyism and nepotism". In light of the recent fall of President Suharto of Indonesia, thought to have embezzled huge amounts of money from the Indonesian treasury, this was widely interpreted as a proxy attack on Mahathir.[citation needed] The response was swift, as Mahathir issued lists of "cronies" who had benefited from government share allocations and privatizations. To the chagrin of Anwar and his allies, several of them were on the list, including Anwar and Zahid.

Anwar continued his assault on the rampant corruption within Mahathir's administration by attempting to impose transparent audits on major conglomerates and business empires (that have been overcharging for government projects and evading taxes). One of the potential victims would have been Mahathir's own son, Mirzan Mahathir (who was a figurehead director in almost 100 private and government-link companies). Conglomerates that were closely-linked to the government, such as Renong, would have been adversely affected as well. At that juncture, Anwar's political destiny was sealed. The plot against him began unfolding.

At the General Assembly, a book, 50 Dalil Kenapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM ("50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Become Prime Minister") was circulated containing graphic sexual allegations as well as accusations of corruption against Anwar. This book carried the byline Khalid Jafri, an ex-editor of the government-controlled newspaper Utusan Malaysia and former editor-in-chief of a failed magazine, Harian National. Shortly thereafter, Anwar obtained a court injunction to prevent further distribution of the book and filed a defamation action against the author.

In August, police charged the author of the "50 Reasons" book with malicious publishing of false news. In September, the judge who had banned the book's distribution was transferred to a lower court despite being a senior judge, further raising concerns among the public about the independence of the judiciary.

Among the points raised in the book was that Anwar is a homosexual and that he is a serial adulterer. Many claims in the book was outlandish and exaggerated. Many regarded the book as an outright fabrication but in a surprising turn of events, rather than investigating the author for libelous writing, the police were instructed to investigate instead the veracity of the outlandish claims. Consequently, Anwar was labeled by the government-controlled media as a womanizer and a homosexual even before any investigation had taken place to determine the truthfulness of the book's contents.

The author died in 2005 of diabetic complications but not before the High Court found that the author had libeled Anwar Ibrahim in publishing the "50 Reasons" book and awarded Anwar Ibrahim millions of ringgit in compensation.

In July 1998, a visit by the Indonesian opposition leader Amien Rais led to more pointed comparisons of Malaysia and Indonesia. Domestic critics accused Mahathir of tolerating cronyism, and the international financial press and the IMF demanded greater transparency in government and UMNO-managed enterprises.

It has been alleged Anwar paid several people in Sabah to gain seats to further strengthen an opposition party in view to overthrow the government quietly and unnoticed. These stories are well known and have been told by several political people in the state of Sabah. The same way UMNO got its foothold into Sabah by buying off the PBS and Inducting it into its BN component party.

Anwar was fired from the Cabinet on September 2, 1998, amid police reports that he was under investigation. The following day, he was expelled from UMNO. On September 14, Dr. Munawar Anees, Anwar's former speechwriter, and Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja, Anwar's adoptive brother, were arrested under suspicion of engaging in sodomy. Five days later, they were given a jail sentence of six months after pleading guilty to "unnatural sex" with Anwar. They later recanted their confessions, and appealed the sentence, claiming to have been coerced into entering a plea of "guilty". Dr. Anees made a statutory declaration of how they were coerced into making a guilty plea. [1] Two of Anwar's secretaries, Ezam Mohamad and Mohamad Azmin Ali, were both held separately as part of police investigations into the "50 reasons" book. Both were later released.

On September 20, Anwar addressed a protest gathering of nearly 100,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, after which a number of his supporters marched to Mahathir's then official residence "Sri Perdana" demanding reformasi (economic and political reforms) and Mahathir's resignation. This march, a rare event in Malaysia, caused concern in the Government, which feared that it could lead to chaos and fights amongst Malaysians. Anwar was seen as the new, liberal face of Malaysians and Mahathir as the protector of the Malays. Anwar's attacks on the suspected nepotism of Mahathir's rule were fortified by widespread discontent over the perceived suppression of democratic rights in Malaysia.

Mahathir's supporters questioned Anwar's actions, alleging that he had waited until he was sacked to publicly challenge Mahathir's actions. Mahathir's supporters also suggested that Anwar engaged in nepotistic and corrupt activities himself, and was using the issues to topple Mahathir. It was also possible that he harbored hopes of replacing Mahathir although Anwar was no longer a member of UMNO and every prime minister had been an UMNO leader.

That night, Anwar's home was raided by a masked and armed SWAT team from the Royal Malaysian Police. His arrest was announced several hours later, as were those of several of Anwar's supporters, although most of them were later released.

On September 29, 1998 Anwar appeared in court and pleaded innocent to charges of corruption and sodomy. A photo of Anwar with black eye (which he gained from a beating, while handcuffed and blindfolded, by then Inspector General of Police Rahim Noor) and one hand raised became a symbol of the political opposition in many reformasi posters.

The black eye was implausibly explained away by the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Rafidah Aziz as being 'self-inflicted' and caused by "pressing a glass over his eyes". Only after a Royal Commission was convened did Rahim Noor admit that he had administered the beating to Anwar. Both Anwar and Rahim Noor have denied the allegations that Anwar was sodomized in prison to 'plant' the forensics evidence of anal sex in Anwar.

During the trial, a mattress was presented to court, supposedly stained with Anwar's semen and sperm. This was submitted as DNA evidence of Anwar's sexual acts. However, Anwar denied anything to do with the mattress although the DNA tests came out positive. The defense team alleged that Anwar was masturbated while unconscious. Dr. Lim Kong Boon, a doctor during the trial [2], testified that it is possible to massage the prostrate gland through the anus in order to stimulate ejaculation in an unconscious victim. The defense council presented this as evidence for police sexual abuse to obtain false forensics evidence to frame Anwar.

Anwar Ibrahim in police custody on 7 February 2002.
Anwar Ibrahim in police custody on 7 February 2002.

Anwar was accused of corruption relating to the police investigation into and arrest of the author of the "50 Reasons" book. He was also accused of sodomy with his wife's chauffeur, Azizan Abu Bakar. The trials were judged by Augustine Paul, a judge who wrote the authoritative Evidence, practice and procedure used throughout the country, and has become text book in prominent universities. He was appointed a Judicial Commissioner in 1995 (judge on probation pending confirmation but with all the powers of a High Court Judge) and later confirmed in 1998. He has been with judicial and legal service since his graduation and held posts such as Magistrate, Sessions Court President, Senior Assistant Registrar of High Court and Chairman of the Industrial Court before being appointed Judicial Commissioner. When Anwar Ibrahim was charged, several judges disqualified themselves politely citing that they knew Anwar personally or the witnesses involved in the case. It was Augustine Paul who agreed to try the case stating "I will base it on evidence". Augustine Paul wrote 320 page judgment in the Anwar Ibrahim case, the longest judgment in the country ever. [1] In that judgment, he explains meticulously point by point each and every piece of evidence involved and the rulings he made.

However, Judge Augustine Paul earned the notoriety for saying "irrelevant" the most number of times in any High Court trial in the country's history. The word "irrelevant" became synonymous with Judge Augustine Paul throughout the duration of the trial, and even became a running joke within the op-ed columns of Malaysian dailies and within local comic strips.

During the trial, Mahathir appeared on Malaysian television in a special appearance to clarify the arrest of his deputy. This was one of several occasions in which Mahathir declared Anwar guilty of sodomy and homosexual acts, even as the trial still was underway.

The government included the statements of the purported victims of Anwar's sodomy attacks, evidence that was widely considered to be tainted.[citation needed] Furthermore, the prosecution was unable to accurately decide on a date that the alleged acts of anal sex had occurred - the government originally alleged that a sodomy had occurred inside a building that had not been constructed at the time of the alleged event. Furthermore, the Attorney General's prosecution team (headed by Abdul Gani Patail) also submitted an improbable scenario in which Dr. Munawar Anees took an overnight flight from Britain all the way to Malaysia to be sodomized by Anwar, and flew back to the UK after that. The infamous "stained mattress" (akin to the "blue dress" in Clinton's trial) that was taken in and out of court over 20 times throughout the duration of the trial was supposedly the same one that Anwar did his homosexual acts and extra-marital sex on. However, according to the evidence, the sexual acts had taken place on the mattress a few years ago, and yet the DNA evidence obtained from it were rather recent in age.

The persecution and destruction of Anwar has widely been considered to have homophobic overtones[citation needed], although Anwar himself is married and has several children and no evidence indicates that he is gay. Nevertheless, the allegations capitalized on the homophobia of certain blocs of Malaysian society and further humiliated the supposed "victims" as they were also charged with the crime of "allowing themselves to be sodomized." This was enough to create a sense of disgust in the general populace, as the Muslim majority of Malaysia frowns upon homosexuality and are quite conservative.

On April 14, 1999, Anwar was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption and, on August 8, 2000, nine years in prison for sodomy. The sentences were to be served consecutively, and Anwar was given no credit for the six months he spent in jail during the trial.

In a speech during the proceedings against him, Anwar explained what he believed to be the underlying motive behind his persecution. He told the court: "I objected to the use of massive public funds to rescue the failed businesses of his (Mahathir's) children and cronies."

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed some doubts about the fairness of the trials. [3] [4]. Amnesty International subsequently designated Anwar as a prisoner of conscience.

Augustine Paul, the judge who convicted Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy (jury trials in Malaysia have been abolished), and sentenced him to jail, was not long thereafter promoted to the Court of Appeal, along with other judges unrelated to this case. In 2005, Augustine Paul was promoted to the Federal Court, Malaysia's highest court. Many critics attribute this promotion to Paul's decision on the case.

The public prosecutor that led the case, Abdul Gani Patail, was subsequently promoted to the post of Attorney-General due to his successful efforts in producing the result desired by the ruling executive.

The trial also unleashed a flood of international criticism. US vice president Al Gore denounced the sodomy trial of Anwar as a "mockery", but Mahathir rejected all such international criticism as "foreign interference." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/873592.stm

Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Ismail, subsequently formed Parti Keadilan (the National Justice Party), which based its platform on campaigning for Anwar's release and reformasi. The party joined the (Alternative Front) coalition, formed in response to the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front).

The following year, Anwar's corruption conviction was upheld by Malaysia's Court of Appeal. In July 2002, Anwar lost his final appeal against the corruption conviction in the Federal Court.

It is generally believed that Anwar's influence over the general public and politics in Malaysia has waned, except for a few dedicated followers of his — in the following general election, the ruling coalition under a new leader, Mahathir's successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, regained Terengganu and nearly captured Kelantan. By then, the Barisan Alternative had crumbled, with the socialist opposition Democratic Action Party leaving the coalition, due to the differences with PAS over the formation of an Islamic state as part of the coalition platform. Before the election, the National Justice Party had changed its name to the People's Justice Party — it performed poorly in the election, only retaining a single parliamentary seat, that which belonged to Anwar's wife. Not surprisingly this was Anwar's old parliamentary seat of Permatang Pauh proving that in spite of his conviction, he still had the support of his old constituents.

On September 2, 2004, a panel of three judges of the Federal Court (Malaysia's highest court) overturned the sodomy conviction by 2 to 1, finding contradictions in the prosecution's case. However, the judges noted "We find evidence to confirm that the appellants were involved in homosexual activities and we are more inclined to believe that the alleged incident at Tivoli Villa did happen."

Anwar had already completed his sentence for corruption, his sentence being reduced for good behaviour. Although the point was by now moot, an appeal on the corruption charges was heard on September 6, 2004. Under Malaysian law a person is banned from political activities for five years after the end of his sentence. Success in this appeal would allow him an immediate return to politics. On September 7, the court agreed to hear Anwar's appeal. However, on September 15, the of Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that its previous decision to uphold a High Court ruling that found Anwar guilty was in order, relegating Anwar to the sidelines of Malaysian politics until 14 April 2008. The only way out for Anwar would be for him to receive a pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

At the time of his release from prison, Anwar was reportedly suffering from serious back problems, which his family said was the result of the beating by the ex-police chief. However, the UMNO-owned newspaper, the New Straits Times, reported in its September 6 issue that the injuries had actually been caused by a fall from a horse in 1993 during Anwar's tenure as deputy prime minister. His wife had argued during his imprisonment that he required treatment for his condition at a clinic in Germany. The government refused, claiming that such treatment was readily available in Malaysia, offering medical treatment if necessary. However, in September 2004, after the Federal Court quashed his conviction for sodomy, Anwar was free to travel to Munich for back surgery.

Since his release from prison Anwar has held a teaching positions at St. Antony's College (Oxford, UK) where he was a Visiting fellow and Senior associate member and at Johns Hopkins School of Advance International Studies in Washington DC as a Distinguished Senior Visiting Fellow. He is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

In March 2006 he was appointed as Honorary President of the London based organization AccountAbility.

In July 2006, Dr Ibrahim was elected Chair of the Washington-based Foundation for the Future [5]. In this capacity, he signed the October 1, 2006 letter to Robin Cleveland of the World Bank, requesting the transfer of the secondment of Shaha Riza from the US Department of State to the Foundation for the Future see p. 102.

Anwar regularly returns to Malaysia where he meets with his political supporters. He is also the Advisor of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the party of which his wife Dr. Wan Azizah is president. Anwar was in the forefront in organising on 10 November 2007, a mass rally, called the BERSIH Peaceful People’s Gathering, which took place in the Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur at 3pm to demand for clean and fair elections. The gathering was organised by BERSIH, a coalition comprising political parties and civil society groups, and drew supporters from all over the country.

In November 2006, Anwar announced he planned to run for Parliament in 2008, after his disqualification expired. Anwar has been critical of government policies since his release from prison, most notably of the controversial New Economic Policy (NEP), which provides affirmative action for the Malays. The policy sets a number of quotas, such as for units of housing and initial public offerings, that must be met. Observers have suggested, however, that Anwar has "offered no clear alternative to the policy".[2]

Articles

Op-ed

Speeches

Interviews

Articles

  1. ^ Public Prosecutor v Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim[1998] 4 MLJ 481;Public Prosecutor v Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (No 2)1999] 2 MLJ 249;Public Prosecutor v Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (No 3)[1999] 2 MLJ 1; and Public Prosecutor v Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (No 4)[1999] 5 MLJ 545
  2. ^ Mathewson, Judy & Hays, Kathleen (Nov. 30, 2006). Malaysia's Anwar Says He Plans to Run for Parliament. Bloomberg.com.

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Preceded by
Tun Ghafar Baba		 Deputy Prime Ministers of Malaysia
1993-1998		 Succeeded by
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim"
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