Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister, besting a Malaysian nationalist leader for the top job after a divisive general election led to a short-term parliament.
Becoming prime minister culminates the rollercoaster political journey for Anwar, a former deputy prime minister whose dismissal and imprisonment in the 1990s sparked huge street protests and a reform movement that became a vital political force.
It is a second victory for his reformist bloc, which won the 2018 election but lost power after 22 months in a power struggle that has led to ongoing political turmoil.
Last Saturday’s elections, which were supposed to end the instability that had led to three prime ministers since 2018, instead produced fresh uncertainty after no party won a clear mandate.
Anwar’s multi-ethnic Alliance of Hope, led with 82 seats, less than the 112 needed for a majority. Muhyiddin’s right-leaning National Alliance won 73 seats, with his ally Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) emerging as the largest single party with 49 seats.
Anwar emerged victorious after smaller blocs agreed to back him in forming a unity government. Still, he faces an uphill task to bridge racial divisions that deepened after Saturday’s election and revive an economy battling rising inflation and a currency that has fallen to its weakest point.
Malays make up two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people, who include large Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities.
“Anwar’s political struggle is on a level comparable to that of (South Africa’s) Nelson Mandela, as both suffered much persecution in the democratization process of their countries,” said Ei Sun Oh of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
“It is hoped that with Anwar in charge, Malaysia can return to a more open and inclusive society and economy which will hopefully restore its standing on the world stage.”
Anwar, 75, had twice been at the pinnacle of power.
An incendiary youth leader, Anwar enjoyed a meteoric rise to become deputy prime minister and finance minister in the 1990s. He was groomed to replace then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, but the bitter fallout from Malaysia’s response to the economic crisis Asian police led to Anwar being fired in 1998, detained without trial and later charged with sodomy and corruption, charges Anwar said were a political conspiracy on Anwar’s part. Mahathir to end his career. Amnesty International called Anwar a “prisoner of conscience”.
Anwar was released in 2004 after Malaysia’s highest court overturned his sodomy conviction, a year after Mahathir stepped down as prime minister after 22 years in power. But he was jailed a second time for sodomy in 2015 in a case he said was aimed at crushing his alliance, which was making gains against the UMNO-led government. However, he did not give up.
From his prison cell, Anwar reconciled with Mahathir, who returned to politics as anger boiled over a multibillion-dollar scandal involving the state investment fund 1MDB. Their meeting led to a landmark 2018 election that saw the unthinkable removal of the UMNO-led alliance, which it had led since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957.
Mahathir became the world’s oldest leader at 92 after the victory. Anwar was pardoned soon after and would have succeeded Mahathir, but infighting led to the collapse of his government shortly after 22 months. UMNO returned as part of a quarrelsome government with Muhyiddin’s National Alliance bloc.
Still, Anwar’s brief Pakatan Harapan rule led to significant turmoil as once-powerful UMNO leaders were jailed or taken to court for corruption. Former Prime Minister Najib Razak was jailed in a case related to the 1MDB saga. His wife, the current head of UMNO and several party leaders also face separate corruption charges.
Anwar campaigned on a multiracial platform, vowing to end racial and religious bigotry and cover billions of dollars lost to entrenched corruption. He finally succeeded in his stubborn search for him on Thursday after a long battle.