Anwar Ibrahim: the James Dean of Malaysian politics
Anwar Ibrahim has a piece today in the Sydney Morning Herald, commenting on US efforts to bring democracy to the Muslim world, a privilege he could not hope to be afforded in the newspapers of his home country of Malaysia. Of course once Anwar’s every public utterance would be given coverage in Malaysia’s press when he was both Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, the second most powerful man in the country and heir apparent to Mahathir Mohammad. Before the Asian financial Crisis of 1997, before his fallout with Mahathir, before his sacking and subsequent jailing on dubious corruption and sodomy charges.
A BBC reporter, responding to a question on his prospects for a political comeback after his release, noted that Anwar was “a man of some charisma and intellect, something that’s very much lacking in Malaysian politics”. A classic piece of British understatement if ever there was one.
That charisma and intellect have won him many supporters outside Malaysia. Marginalized at home, he has reinvented himself as voice of moderate Islam for the post-9/11 era. He tours the international speaking circuit, preaching both Islamic reformism and criticism of American foreign policy, appealing to both right and left wing sections of Western audiences. He also serves as a visiting fellow at St. Anthony's College, Oxford and Georgetown University in Washington. Such associations probably only serve to damn him further with his opponents; as a turncoat more interested in pleasing foreigners than serving his own people, a quisling who would conspire to sell out his country’s interests.
His prospects of a substantive comeback in Malaysian politics remain bleak. He has mooted running at the next general election, possibly taking over the seat currently held by his wife for the Keadilan (Justice) Party, but a return to anything approaching his former influence is unlikely given the hegemony of the ruling UMNO party and government control over the media.
Exiled from power, Anwar remains the leader unfulfilled, a symbol of the promise of reform and renewal as yet unrealized. Perhaps had he been afforded the opportunity he would have proved a disappointment, lapsing into the established vices once assuming the vestiges of power. He’s the James Dean of Malaysian politics: a talented man who fell before his time; admired not so much for what was, but what could have been.
A BBC reporter, responding to a question on his prospects for a political comeback after his release, noted that Anwar was “a man of some charisma and intellect, something that’s very much lacking in Malaysian politics”. A classic piece of British understatement if ever there was one.
That charisma and intellect have won him many supporters outside Malaysia. Marginalized at home, he has reinvented himself as voice of moderate Islam for the post-9/11 era. He tours the international speaking circuit, preaching both Islamic reformism and criticism of American foreign policy, appealing to both right and left wing sections of Western audiences. He also serves as a visiting fellow at St. Anthony's College, Oxford and Georgetown University in Washington. Such associations probably only serve to damn him further with his opponents; as a turncoat more interested in pleasing foreigners than serving his own people, a quisling who would conspire to sell out his country’s interests.
His prospects of a substantive comeback in Malaysian politics remain bleak. He has mooted running at the next general election, possibly taking over the seat currently held by his wife for the Keadilan (Justice) Party, but a return to anything approaching his former influence is unlikely given the hegemony of the ruling UMNO party and government control over the media.
Exiled from power, Anwar remains the leader unfulfilled, a symbol of the promise of reform and renewal as yet unrealized. Perhaps had he been afforded the opportunity he would have proved a disappointment, lapsing into the established vices once assuming the vestiges of power. He’s the James Dean of Malaysian politics: a talented man who fell before his time; admired not so much for what was, but what could have been.
posted by Alex at 6:29 AM
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