Malaysian Police Raid Mosque to Disrupt Pro-Anwar Rally
International Herald Tribune
September 26, 1998
Thomas Fuller

A special police unit marched into Kuala Lumpur's National Mosque on Friday and disrupted a demonstration by hundreds of people chanting and handing out leaflets in support of Anwar Ibrahim, the ousted deputy prime minister.

The image of the police sprinting through the corridors of the country's leading mosque just after Friday prayers could stir anger among the country's Muslims, who make up just over 50 percent of Malaysia's population.

The protest dispersed quickly when police entered the mosque, but the raid pointed to what could become the most entrenched face-off of Malaysia's political crisis, between Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad and Islamic leaders.

Islamic groups, who see the prime minister as too secular, are Mr. Anwar's most vocal constituency and their members made up the largest segment of protesters at Mr. Anwar's rallies.

Mr. Mahathir faces criticism from several segments of Malaysian society for the dismissal and subsequent arrest of Mr. Anwar, his anointed successor. Mr. Anwar and Mr. Mahathir were increasingly at odds during the last year over the direction of economic policy. Their power struggle culminated earlier this month when Mr. Mahathir accused Mr. Anwar of sexual misconduct. He will be tried for sodomy, which is illegal in Malaysia.

The political battle between Mr. Mahathir and Mr. Anwar has been played out on the streets of Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere in the country on a scale never seen before in post-independence Malaysia.

It comes as Malaysia and its neighbors in Southeast Asia face intense economic pressure from the year-old financial crisis, with governments grappling with rising unemployment and poverty.

Mr. Anwar's dismissal has left Mr. Mahathir, 72, without a political heir and has destroyed the mechanism of succession that has been used to pick prime ministers since independence in 1957.

The prime minister said Friday that he dismissed Mr. Anwar because of his alleged homosexuality. "We cannot have a leader who is easily swayed by his lust," he said.

Mr. Anwar was arrested last Sunday and is being detained without trial. Lawyers say they fear the erosion of the rule of law and human rights groups fear the further use of the draconian Internal Security Act, under which Mr. Anwar is being held.

Mr. Mahathir said that his former deputy would not be tried until he stopped the unrest.

"If he will tell his followers not to riot, he will be brought to court for trial," Mr. Mahathir said Friday.

It was unclear how Mr. Anwar, whose location is unknown and who has not even been allowed to meet with his wife since his detention, would pass on the message to his followers.

The group that demonstrated in the National Mosque on Friday promised more protests. In leaflets thrown from the balcony of the mosque, the group said it would meet Saturday in the heart of the city. "No speech, no rally, no violence and no riots. All will be done in peace with whispers of support," the leaflets said.

Islamic groups pose a significant threat to Mr. Mahathir because they have good infrastructure: Even the smallest towns in the country have mosques.

The last time the police entered a mosque in Malaysia was in 1974, and then, too, Mr. Anwar was involved. As the head of a radical student movement, he was leading a rally against poverty in rural areas.

"History is repeating itself," said Syed Husin Ali, a government critic who took part in the protests 24 years ago. "Only in 1974 the police did not take off their boots." Before entering the mosque Friday, most of the police commandos, following Muslim custom, took off their shoes. Others put red covers over their black combat boots.

The protesters in the mosque Friday are Mr. Anwar's core supporters: conservative Muslims, who, before Mr. Anwar's detention, turned out in large numbers to hear him speak. Over the years, Mr. Anwar attempted to cultivate the image of a devout Muslim family man.

Mr. Mahathir, by contrast, has tried to portray a modern face of Islam during his 17 years in power.

"Mahathir has always sought to resist the encroachment of Islamic values as a dominant culture within the state," said Michael Leifer, director of the Asia Research Center at the London School of Economics.

Rustam Sani, a former professor and widely read newspaper columnist, added: "He has been arguing all over the world that Islam has been misunderstood that there is this so-called more enlightened kind of Islam. That has created a lot of suspicion among the more conservatives."

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