From The Wall Street Journal Asia
KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 ─ Building a credible opposition party is not a crime in a democracy. So believes Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian democrat who, after a decade out in the cold, is now poised to unseat the political party that has ruled the country since its inception. For the "crime" of winning the public's confidence, Anwar is facing accusations that could derail his political career and threaten Malaysia's democratic institutions.
Last weekend, police began investigating a complaint of sodomy against Anwar lodged by a 23-year-old aide. If this sounds familiar, it should. In 1998 Anwar was falsely convicted of sodomy and jailed for six years. Anwar denies the current accusation, and photos purportedly showing the aide posing with high-level government officials are circulating online, fuelling conspiracy theories. The Prime Minister has denied any government involvement.
The 1998 sodomy charge also emerged at a politically sensitive moment. Anwar, who was deputy prime minister at the time, posed a growing challenge to then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who governed the country for 22 years. His sodomy conviction was overturned by the federal court in 2004, the year after Dr Mahathir stepped down. His conviction for abuse of power was not overturned.
During the legal proceedings in 1998, Anwar became an icon of judicial injustice when he appeared at a court hearing with a black eye after being beaten while in police custody. The police chief later pleaded guilty to assaulting him, was briefly jailed, and then apologised.
There is a lot in the events of this week that reminds Malaysians of that period. At a rally on Tuesday, Anwar started up the same rallying cry, "Reformasi," that his supporters used to protest his arrest in 1998. Also on Tuesday, Anwar filed a police complaint centred around the same incident, which accuses the current attorney-general and current inspector-general of police ─ who in 1998 worked lower down in the bureaucracy ─ of obstructing justice in the police investigation of his prison beating.
After spending 6 years in jail, Anwar became eligible for political office in April ─ one month after the ruling coalition suffered its largest-ever setback at the polls. The coalition still holds a majority of seats in Parliament, but the popularity of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is falling fast and Anwar says that his coalition will be able to gain enough defectors by September to lead the government. This would make Anwar the new prime minister, assuming, as expected, that he wins a parliamentary seat in a by-election.
In 1998, Anwar's arrest brought thousands of demonstrators to the streets of Kuala Lumpur in his support. The current investigation could do the same, and may ultimately strengthen Anwar's party by reminding people of the injustices he suffered. Initial polls show that most Malaysians believe the current investigation is politically motivated, and his campaign aims to bring a million people to the streets in a rally on Sunday.
It also throws into the spotlight one of his key messages: judicial reform. In September he released a video that he says shows a prominent attorney trying to fix judicial appointments in a conversation with a top judge.
After his party's trouncing in March, Abdullah appropriated one of Anwar's key positions by announcing that judicial appointments would be decided by an independent council rather than by political appointment.
This legal system is about to be put to the test ─ both by Anwar's complaint against the attorney-general and police chief and by how the government handles the sodomy accusation against him. How it responds will say a lot about the state of Malaysia's young democracy.
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