Asian Wall Street Journal | KUALA LUMPUR, 07-Aug-2008 — A confrontation that could decide Malaysia’s political future escalated, as police ordered charismatic opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to appear in court today, where his lawyers said they expect him to be charged with sodomising a former aide.
The development came amid an increasingly bitter leadership struggle that is dividing the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation as it faces rising inflation and a slowing economy. Should Anwar be charged, it will mark the second time in a decade he has faced prosecution on sex allegations. And it will put the impartiality of Malaysia’s justice system and the credibility of an increasingly wobbly Barisan Nasional government — which has been in power continuously for 50 years — under an intense spotlight at home and abroad.
One of the Islamic world’s best-known politicians, Anwar was served a warrant yesterday ordering him to appear in a Kuala Lumpur court today. In a statement, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the Attorney-General’s office had decided to charge Anwar after police completed an investigation into a criminal case involving sexual “intercourse against the natural order,” using the country’s legal terminology for sodomy. In Malaysia, that is a crime that carries a jail sentence of as many as 20 years.
Anwar has denied sodomy allegations made against him by a 23-year-old male aide in June, and he claims he is being framed by his political rivals to undermine his bid to topple the BN government and become Malaysia’s premier. Yesterday, he accused the police and government politicians, including the office of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, of orchestrating a conspiracy against him by staging a “sham trial” to divert attention from political and economic problems.
“Tomorrow (today), I will be charged with a crime I didn’t commit,” Anwar said, adding “I will fight. I will not allow this cowardly attack to derail [the opposition’s] agenda for change.”
Abdullah, other senior government officials and the police have repeatedly denied the sodomy investigation is politically motivated. Yesterday, the prime minister rejected Anwar’s conspiracy allegation, saying his expected prosecution was “on the basis of due process of the law.” According to the Associated Press, Abdullah told reporters “How could I insist that he be charged? If there is no evidence, the police are not so stupid to charge” him.
Anwar, 60, has been engaged in a challenge for political power since the alliance of opposition parties he leads made unexpectedly strong gains in March parliamentary elections. Voters sharply eroded Abdullah’s majority in Parliament and left Anwar’s coalition, known as Pakatan Rakyat, within striking distance of challenging for control of this predominantly Muslim nation of 27 million people. The confrontation has shaken a country that has enjoyed long periods of political stability and is a major exporter of palm oil, natural gas and electronic components to the global economy.
Last week, Anwar announced plans to run for a parliamentary seat in a by-election scheduled to be held on Aug 26. If he is elected, as is widely expected, Anwar would be eligible to become premier should the opposition alliance succeed in ousting the BN. If he is charged with sodomy and detained, Anwar could still contest the by-election. But should he be subsequently convicted, he would lose his seat and could be barred from public office for years.
“The BN realises it can’t stop Anwar being elected, but by using the sodomy allegations they can reduce his [by-election] majority and take some of the sting out of his victory,” said James Chin, a political-science professor at the Malaysia campus of Australia’s Monash University.
The prosecution of Anwar could strain ties with the US and other Western countries that have expressed concern over the investigation into the sodomy allegations. That concern is based, in part, on the prosecution of Anwar on similar charges a decade ago, after he was purged as deputy prime minister by then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Anwar denied the charges. After a police investigation and a trial that were criticised by independent legal experts as flawed and politically motivated, the former deputy premier was found guilty of sodomy in 1999 and imprisoned until his conviction was overturned on appeal in 2004.
Anwar has maintained that his earlier sodomy conviction was part of a conspiracy to stop him from challenging Dr Mahathir for the premiership. Dr Mahathir has denied there was any conspiracy and has said he believes Anwar was, in fact, guilty of sodomy, despite his later acquittal.
In recent weeks, Malaysian government officials have aggressively defended the latest sodomy investigation, at one point calling in diplomats on short notice to insist there was no political interference or motive influencing it. The US, in particular, has drawn fire from Kuala Lumpur. In July, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice irritated the Malaysian government by saying Washington wants to “see transparency and rule of law to be completely followed” in the Anwar inquiry.
Last week, former US Vice-President and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore criticised Malaysia over the sodomy investigation. “The real tragedy is that the government engages in character assassination to silence an effective leader of the political opposition,” he alleged in a statement. “Twice, now, the government has used the same tactic in an effort to politically destroy Anwar Ibrahim. In the process, however, it is damaging its own credibility at home and abroad.”
The decision to charge Anwar is also likely to fuel a fiery internal public debate over the independence of Malaysia’s justice system. The case already has focused attention on a legal system still widely viewed as vulnerable to political pressure.
Public confidence in law-enforcement institutions — the police, public prosecutors and the judiciary, which have been dogged by scandals — is low. A recent opinion survey by the Merdeka Centre, an independent Malaysian polling organisation, showed a majority of those asked believe Anwar’s allegations that the latest sodomy charge is politically motivated, despite government denials.
“Regardless of whether Anwar is acquitted, convicted or charged, the political impact will be great because the ruling government has been tarnished by these events,” said Khoo Kay Peng, a Kuala Lumpur-based author and political analyst.
The impending prosecution of Anwar also comes at a time when Abdullah’s government is losing popularity amid rising inflation and slowing economic growth, and the 68-year-old prime minister is facing pressure from members of his own party, Umno. That has already forced Abdullah to announce he will retire in mid-2010, several years before his current term would expire.
Another opinion survey by the Merdeka Centre, released on Aug 1, found that Abdullah’s public-support rating had plunged to its lowest level, 42%, while 72% of participants said they felt the country was directionless as inflation and other economic problems were mounting amid the continuing political crisis. Abdullah’s anointed successor, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, drew even lower approval figures in the poll.
Some political analysts suggest that to counter Anwar’s growing political clout, the ethnic-Malay-dominated government will rely more heavily on the race-based politics it has employed to stay in power since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957. In particular, the BN has relied on a sweeping affirmative-action programme for the country’s majority Muslim Malay population to win support. Malays make up about 60% of the population, while ethnic Chinese, Indians and other groups make up the rest.
Already, some senior government officials have condemned Anwar, himself a Malay, as a “traitor” to his race for pledging to roll back the decades-old affirmative-action policy to make Malaysia more economically competitive internationally and win the backing of the country’s large non-Muslim minority groups.