Ibrahim, Anwar bin

▪ 2009

born Aug. 10, 1947, Cherok Tok Kun, Penang, Malay.

      In August 2008 veteran Malaysian politician and moderate Islamist Anwar bin Ibrahim, the main opposition leader, won election to Malaysia's parliament, a major step in the rehabilitation of his political career, which had been sullied by unsubstantiated charges of sodomy. Immediately following the landslide victory in his home district of Permatang Pauh, Penang, he launched a strenuous campaign to bring down the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, whose party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), had expelled Anwar in 1998 after he was fired as deputy prime minister. With Abdullah's government stagnating amid scandal and social and economic turmoil, the country's historically disparate opposition rallied around the reformist Anwar in 2007. Early in 2008 he assumed de facto leadership of a three-party opposition coalition, the People's Alliance, made up of the People's Justice Party (PKR), the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Pas), and the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

      Prior to general elections in March, Anwar, though banned from seeking political office himself until April, campaigned actively on behalf of the People's Alliance. The coalition's message of ethnic equality, religious tolerance, and open markets—reformist ideals long espoused by Anwar—garnered enough support to break the ruling National Front's (BN's) two-thirds majority in the parliament, which previously had been broken only once since Malaysia gained independence. In mid-September the newly elected Anwar called on Abdullah to convene an emergency session of the parliament, then in recess for the Ramadan fast, asserting that he had enough support to carry a no-confidence vote against the government. The prime minister refused and threatened action against Anwar, whom he declared a threat to the country's security.

      The son of politicians, Anwar embarked on his political career in the late 1960s while studying at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, where he became known as an Islamist student leader. In 1971 he founded the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, serving as its president until 1982. Despite his criticism of the BN and its most powerful component, UMNO, in 1982 Anwar accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to join UMNO and his government. Anwar advanced swiftly, serving as minister of culture, youth, and sports (1983), agriculture (1984), and education (1986–91) before being appointed minister of finance (1991–98) and deputy prime minister (1993–98). At the helm of Malaysia's remarkable economic prosperity during the 1990s, Anwar gained the respect of colleagues worldwide. During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, however, he clashed with Mahathir over the implementation of economic recovery measures. Anwar was dismissed in 1998, and in 1999 he was jailed on charges of corruption, to which a charge of sodomy—a criminal offense under Malaysian law—was later added. In 2004 Malaysia's High Court overturned the sodomy conviction, citing a lack of evidence, and freed Anwar. Following his release, Anwar held lecturing positions at the University of Oxford; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; and Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Janet Moredock

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