Progress in Malaysia
Kurt Bassuener August 26th, 2008
Reports indicate that former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has won an overwhelming victory in a special by-election for a parliamentary seat in his home, northern Penang.
Anwar’s party, the Keadilan, or People’s Justice, said on Tuesday that he is expected to win at least 70 per cent of the vote for the Permatang Pauh constituency in the state of Penang, just hours after polling closed.
Al Jazeera English had a Malaysian analyst, Ms. Tricia Yeoh, on the air earlier today, who gave what she called a ”conservative estimate” that the win meant not only strong ethnic Chinese and Indian support for Anwar, but also a strong ethnic Malay majority. This is important, given the Malay-first policies pursued by the long-ruling UMNO party.
The projected win comes despite the former deputy prime minister fighting charges of - and due to go on trial soon for - allegedly committing sodomy with a male aide.
Given the fact that the last time such an allegation was made, it didn’t hold up, and the strong incentive for the ruling coalition to stop Anwar, who is on a path to unseating them in the next general election, it seems clear to me and many other observers that these charges are trumped up - as they were last time. The BBC reports:
Observers say government-controlled newspapers have led the assault on Mr Anwar, emphasising the sodomy allegations.
Dr. Anwar is internationally recognized as an important democracy and pan-Malaysian leader, and his fate has international implications, according to former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former Indonesian Prime Minister Abdurrahman Wahid, commonly known as “Gus Dur”:
However, his enemies are fighting back, filing new sodomy charges. We find it impossible to believe these charges. We know Anwar as a man of integrity. We appreciate the way he has spoken on behalf of freedom, democracy and human rights. The charges are inconsistent with everything we know about his character.
At the same time, there are plausible motives for some to manufacture a false case against him. Mr Anwar last year brought evidence to a royal commission that enabled it to conclude that there had been improper influence exerted on judicial appointments. More recently he announced that he had evidence against the current attorney-general and the current inspector-general of police for the perversion of justice in his own prosecution in 1998-99. A few days ago it was disclosed that the doctor who first examined the alleged victim found no physical evidence to support the most recent accusation.
The Malaysian authorities need to recognise that there is no way that continued pursuit of these charges can be viewed as credible, given the history of prosecutorial abuse and manipulation of evidence in the earlier proceeding against Anwar. His political future should be decided at the polls, not through some suspect prosecutorial proceeding.
We are deeply concerned that the safety, freedom and reputation of an important leader in the Muslim world are at risk. So, too, is the integrity of Malaysia’s judicial system and along with it the credibility of the government in general. The future of Malaysia as an example of success for the developing world and for the entire Muslim world may be at stake.
It is nice to see some forward movement in Southeast Asia, beacuse the picture is not uniform, with unrest in Thailand and continued stonewalling by the Burmese junta.
Anwar’s landslide victory in the recent by-election in Malaysia creates big headache for the ruling coalition which spent some 60 mil. ringgit (15 mil. euros) for their campaign and hurled on Anwar every accusation they could think of. Still, two in three people from Permatang Pauh voted for Anwar. Even the reduction in price of fuel (just a few days before the crucial by-election) was of little help to the Government since people interpreted it as a move that only confirmed Anwar’s claim that the price hike was excessive in the first place. Malaysia faces very challenging times ahead. Opposition’s social and economic agenda continues to draw support from the masses irrespective of the race and religion. Ruling coalition, meanwhile, lives in the state of denial and instead of focusing on the real problems they go after dissident bloggers threatening and intimidating them and, as of yesterday, shutting their websites. These desperate moves will only further delineate government leaders from the Malaysian citizenry and will only accelerate Anwar’s journey to Putrajaya. On the other side, these desperate moves require attention of pro-democracy forces from around the Globe because once faced with the imminent loss of power the ruling parties will spare no efforts in their attempt to rescue their economic and other interests. International forums must keep the focus on Malaysia and Anwar and, in that sense, I salute this article.