Paradoxical Anwar Moves Comfortably on the Political Poles 
International Herald Tribune
October 2, 1998
Thomas Fuller

On a recent afternoon in a small, leafy village far from the capital of Malaysia, several thousand people assembled to hear their hometown hero explain how he went from being the government's second-most-powerful man to its biggest enemy — all in a matter of a week.

Anwar Ibrahim, who just days before had been dismissed from his post as deputy prime minister, stood on the porch of his father's home in Cherok Tok Kun and made the crowd laugh with self-deprecating humor about the allegations of sexual misconduct against him, and he punched the air with his fists, saying Malaysia needed to follow the rule of law, not the rule of the jungle.

But on that day three weeks ago, as significant as the speech or the crowd that he addressed was a photograph of Mr. Anwar pasted onto trees throughout the village, a photo that captured how the politician had returned to his conservative Islamic roots.

It showed the old Mr. Anwar. His hair was long and his beard scruffy. He looked more like Che Guevara than the urbane intellectual who during his time in government had become a friend of men like William Cohen, the U.S. defense secretary, and Michel Camdessus, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, with whom he had planned to write a book.

Mr. Anwar, dismissed by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad on Sept. 2 after months of increasing differences over economic policy and growing personal animosity, is one of the most complex politicians in Malaysia, with an equally complex constituency.

To conservative Muslims, he is a defender of the faith, a man who during his university days lobbied for a ban on alcohol and Western dancing on campuses. And to liberal Malaysians, he is a man who had promised to abolish Draconian laws such as the Internal Security Act, and who said he would, once he was made prime minister, encourage freedom of the press.

He plays to both audiences, bridging his liberal image with the conservative Islamic one by keeping his statements vague.

Even the crowds that came to see him speak as he toured the country after his dismissal covered the spectrum in their reactions. They shouted, almost in the same breath: "Reform!" and "God is great!"

Mr. Anwar's rise from student radical to the second-most-powerful slot in government was meteoric. Shortly after becoming prime minister in 1981, Mr. Mahathir brought Mr. Anwar into the governing political party, luring him away from a conservative Islamic opposition party.

It was a move for which some of Mr. Anwar's friends have not forgiven him.

"When Anwar came into government, I lambasted him," said Wahab Long, a businessman. "I told him: 'I no longer have a friend. You no longer fight for the same causes. You walk in a different style, and you wear different clothes."'

As Mr. Anwar rose within the ruling party, he sharpened his image. The son of a hospital porter, he took to wearing Armani suits and Bally shoes. He wrote magazine essays about the need for civil society and the rule of law. He cultivated the foreign press and published "The Asian Renaissance," a book filled with references to Tocqueville and T.S. Eliot.

Today, Mr. Anwar is faced with a court case that will determine the future of his political career. He is charged with sodomy and obstruction of justice. If Mr. Anwar is found guilty of the first charge, his conservative Islamic constituency could all but abandon him.

With each charge of sodomy, Mr. Anwar faces 20 years in prison and a caning under a British colonial-era law banning homosexual activities.

Mr. Anwar has remained stoic about the prospect of a long prison term. Before his detention, he often pointed out how long Nelson Mandela had to wait in South African prisons until he was vindicated.

And it would not be the first time Mr. Anwar spends time in a Malaysian prison. As a student leader in the 1970s, he spent 22 months locked up for leading a protest against poverty in rural areas. Then, as now, he was jailed under the Internal Security Act.

Mr. Anwar had rallied support for his causes by forming a group called the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement. He quickly became known as a firebrand speaker.

"None of them could sway the crowd the way he could," said Khoo Kay Kim, a history professor at the University of Malaya. "He could speak off the cuff and talk to his audience — always knowing what they wanted."

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