Anwar trial another black eye for Malaysia
By Anil Netto
PENANG - Malaysia's charismatic opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is in the dock
again on sodomy charges in a suit that threatens to reverse the startling
revival in his political career.
"Sodomy II Starts", trumpeted the headline of the English-daily
government-linked Star newspaper on Wednesday - heralding the beginning of another
season in which a litany of explicit terms from court proceedings will be
reported in the media.
On Wednesday, key prosecution witness Saiful Bukhari, a former junior Anwar
aide, startled the court when he testified that Anwar had asked him "Can I f***
you?" when they were alone in a
condominium. Saiful, 25, said he was afraid when Anwar, 62, allegedly
approached him.
Anwar has maintained his innocence and claimed the trial is part of a political
conspiracy. He intends in his defense to subpoena Prime Minister Najib Razak
and his wife Rosmah, who he claims both met with Saiful a couple of days before
the latter submitted a police report about the alleged sodomy. They have both
vigorously denied a meeting took place.
Anwar, once the heir apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohamad and now the
leader of a resurgent opposition coalition, spent six years in prison from
1998.
At the height of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, and after falling out with
Mahathir, he was arrested and severely beaten by the country's top police
officer. A year later, he was sentenced to prison for corruption and in the
following year, he was convicted of sodomy. Both convictions added up to a jail
stint of 15 years.
His now famous black eye and jailing became the rallying point of the reformasi
movement. In those tumultuous years, the democratic aspirations of political
parties and civil society groups were intricately interwoven with Anwar's
plight. Behind bars, he inspired a new political party, the People's Justice
Party (PKR), led then by his wife, Wan Azizah.
In 2004, his sodomy conviction was overturned and Anwar was released - but
barred from contesting elections until 2008. A general election was held just
before he became eligible to run, though he played an instrumental role in the
PKR's campaign.
His efforts steered a loose opposition electoral pact to a stunning
performance, capturing five out of 13 states and denying the ruling Barisan
Nasional (BN) coalition its coveted two-thirds parliamentary majority.
Anwar promptly won a by-election and has since become the standard bearer of
the fledgling opposition coalition, now known as Pakatan Rakyat (People's
Alliance). The alliance brought together the PKR, the Islamic party PAS and the
Democratic Action Party.
Testing times
The second sodomy trial comes at a testing time for both the premier and Anwar.
Since taking office last April, Najib has promoted his "One Malaysia, People
First, Performance Now" slogan to foster national unity. Urbane and articulate,
the premier hopes to regain lost ground after BN parties representing minority
ethnic groups were routed in the 2008 election.
But his efforts have been undermined by recent controversies, including the
uproar over a High Court decision in late December that granted a Catholic
weekly newspaper the right to use the term Allah in its publications. The
decision was followed by a spate of arson attempts or desecration of 18
Christian, Muslim and Sikh religious sites. This week a special aide to Najib
resigned after reports alleged he made derogatory and racist remarks against
ethnic minorities.
The Anwar trial and the Allah controversy have distracted media attention from
other simmering scandals, including the theft of two jet engines from the air
force, financial losses surrounding the construction of the Port Klang Free
Zone project and the BN's takeover of the Perak state government last year
following controversial defections.
Anwar's coalition, too, faces problems of its own. A conservative Muslim PKR
parliamentarian has broken ranks with the party's moderate stand on the Allah
issue. Outspoken from PKR federal parliamentarians have also spoken out against
the DAP-led state government in Penang. It is uncertain whether they might lead
a few more disgruntled parliamentarians and become "BN-friendly'' independents.
To many observers it is not just Anwar now on trial, but the integrity of the
judiciary and police. The black eye inflicted on Anwar and the perceived
misconduct of the court proceedings in his first sodomy trial greatly eroded
confidence in the judiciary and the police as impartial actors.
Bowing to calls for reforms, Mahathir's hand-picked successor, Abdullah Badawi,
set up two royal commissions of inquiry - one to look into the management of
the police and the other to make recommendations on judicial appointments.
Though they produced some positive recommendations, few would say the image of
the police and the judiciary has since dramatically improved.
Meanwhile, much has changed since Anwar's first trial. During the last trial,
websites were just emerging. Now, every detail of the court proceedings is
available for a more skeptical and informed public to follow on
social-networking sites, blogs, independent news portals, text messages, and
the government-controlled media.
Arguably, the shifting patterns of news consumption were evident in the
aftermath of the attacks on religious sites. Many had initially feared the
incidents could spark race-based turmoil, but most Malaysians they did not fall
for the bait, sensing that these were precisely aimed to provoke them.
Changed political alignments have also helped to defuse tension. Unlike before,
Malaysia has a viable political opposition coalition that has a sizeable
Malay-Muslim presence, making it a harder to sell issues along racial-religious
lines. For instance, PAS and PKR have adopted a more conciliatory approach
towards non-Muslim usage of the term Allah - provided the term is not abused.
BN supporters may be hoping the trial will convince more Malay-Muslim
politicians to cross over to their side. But the danger of a backlash is there:
if Anwar is once again seen as being victimized, he could become a rallying
point for the Pakatan Rakyat, reuniting the parties in the alliance and
encouraging more young people to register as voters.
That could prove as disastrous for the BN in the next general election as in
the 1999 vote after Anwar was first arrested, humiliated and imprisoned. The
present trial may drag on for months, with a series of appeals and
counter-appeals likely to turn proceedings into a high stake soap opera.
That could cost the country at a time it faces many urgent economic and social
issues, not least how to revitalize the economy and devise new strategies for
sustainable development in view of depleting petroleum reserves. Government
plans to impose a new value-added tax to make up for revenue shortfalls is
bound to be met with strong opposition.
At the same time, there is also a sense that Pakatan Rakyat, now helming four
state governments, has emerged as a viable coalition with a common framework
that could survive even without Anwar. The risk is that without a charismatic
leader in his mould, it would be much harder to paper over emerging cracks and
hold the disparate parties in the coalition together.
At the end of the day, much will depend on how a more discerning Malaysian
public view and respond to the unfolding saga.
Anil Netto is a Penang-based writer.
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