July 3, 2008
|
|
|
|
|
July 3, 2008 |
|||
|
|
|||||
|
DOW JONES REPRINTS
   This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit:www.djreprints.com. • See a sample reprint in PDF format. • Order a reprint of this article now. Turmoil in MalaysiaTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA
July 3, 2008 Building a credible opposition party is not a crime in a democracy. So believes 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, Mr. Anwar is facing accusations that could derail his political career and threaten Malaysia's democratic institutions. ![[Anwar Ibrahim]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/HC-GH085_Ibrahi_20070521110918.gif)
Last weekend, police began investigating a complaint of sodomy against Mr. Anwar lodged by a 23-year-old aide. If this sounds familiar, it should. In 1998 Mr. Anwar was falsely convicted of sodomy and jailed for six years. Mr. Anwar denies the current accusation, and photos purportedly showing the aide posing with high-level government officials are circulating online, fueling conspiracy theories. The Prime Minister has denied any government involvement. The 1998 sodomy charge also emerged at a politically sensitive moment. Mr. Anwar, who was deputy prime minister at the time, posed a growing challenge to then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who governed the country for 22 years. His sodomy conviction was overturned by Malaysia's high court in 2004, the year after Mr. Mahathir stepped down. His conviction for abuse of power was not overturned. During the legal proceedings in 1998, Mr. 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 apologized. There is a lot in the events of this week that reminds Malaysians of that period. At a rally on Tuesday, Mr. Anwar started up the same rallying cry, "reformasi," that his supporters used to protest his arrest in 1998. Also on Tuesday, Mr. Anwar filed a police complaint centered around the same incident, which accuses the current attorney general and current inspector general of the police -- who in 1998 worked lower down in the bureaucracy -- of obstructing justice in the police investigation of his prison beating. After spending six years in jail, Mr. 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 Abdullah Badawi is falling fast and Mr. Anwar says that his coalition will be able to gain enough defectors by September to lead the government. This would make Mr. Anwar the new prime minister, assuming, as expected, that he wins a parliamentary seat in a by-election. In 1998, Mr. 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 Mr. 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. Prime Minister Badawi called for an investigation, but the investigating committee stalled and has not yet released its findings. After his party's trouncing in March, Mr. Badawi appropriated one of Mr. 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 Mr. 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. See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal1. And add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum2.
|
||||||
