Anwar's Summer of Discontent

Malaysian Premier suddenly finds his job in danger

Mind the gap

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has returned from the July 6 meeting of BRICS countries in Rio de Janeiro, along with a jaunt through Rome and Paris, facing growing anger that could cost him his job over a range of heated issues, a distressing turn of events for a leader who won international acclaim for his courageous two-decade stand for reform.

But an increasing number of both critics and followers believe he has squandered it by a long series of actions that have put his reputation in jeopardy as well as his job, turning away from reformasi to something more resembling the scandal-scarred United Malays National Organization that he fought to oust.

For example, on June 20, the courts a “Dismissal Not Amounting to an Acquittal” or DNAA on a pending case against former Prime Minister Najib Razak, one of the architects of the biggest financial scandal in Malaysian history, representing a slow chipping away at the potential punishments Najib faces, and along with it a slow chipping away at Anwar’s reputation. It was the second DNAA issued to powerful and corrupt individuals.

Anwar said he had nothing to do with either, saying the decisions had been left to the attorney general, a statement met with skepticism. A third was issued to Najib’s massively unpopular wife, Rosmah Mansor, on one of the charges leveled against her for helping her husband loot public finances. It is Zahid who is rumored to be the beneficiary if Anwar is toppled.

“The countdown has begun,” said a disgruntled former admirer. “Whether it’s three months, six, or 12, the clock has started ticking. It was one series of lies, DNAAs, etc., one after another. I can’t think of one promise he fulfilled from his manifesto.”

Critics have taken to the streets, holding signs reading “Turun Anwar,” or “down with Anwar,” and students even burned his effigy in a protest in East Malaysia’s restive state of Sabah last month. The protests came shortly after his attempt to claim immunity in a complaint filed against him for allegedly attempting to seduce a young male aide, claiming that as head of government, he couldn’t be compelled to appear in court over any false accusations that political critics or his enemies hurl at him. It is the third charge of sexual perversion against him in his career, the first two regarded as brought in a bid to end his political career. This one is regarded as more troubling because he is now the one in power.

Anwar has further added to the bonfire by allegedly trying to bring in “friendly” judges to replace seven top judges who will retire in the next six months. That includes the highly respected Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, whose term he refused to extend, and other senior judges. The fact that he didn’t extend the highly respected Tengku Maimun by six months, as has been the convention, has added to the outrage.

Rafizi Ramli, who was ousted from his position as Secretary General of Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat to be replaced by Anwar’s daughter, issued a public statement calling into question the nonrenewal of Maimun and her deputy Abang Iskandar, both of whom retired last week and were not given six-month extensions. Anwar’s appeal is scheduled to be heard on July 25 after a trial court turned down his bid for immunity.

While the prime minister holds constitutional authority over judicial appointments, Rafizi said, delays in filling vacancies from the High Court to the Federal Court have fueled speculation that the executive may be trying to influence the process. “While the AGC believes these issues are not serious enough to plunge the judiciary into crisis, that’s exactly what we’re trying to prevent,” Rafizi said. “This isn’t about legality alone -- it’s about public confidence in the judiciary’s independence.” Rafizi and his allies called for a royal commission of inquiry to investigate.

Ironically, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who single-handedly destroyed the impartiality of the judiciary in the 1980s by firing members of the federal court and taking over the appointment of judges, now leads demands for an impartial court. The opposition coalition, an ethnic nationalist party and a rural fundamentalist one, is being goaded to activism by Mahathir, who turns 100 on Thursday and who has been Anwar’s mortal enemy since he fired him as finance minister in 1998 and engineered the first of the two sexual perversion charges that put Anwar behind bars for six years.

Anwar has largely ignored the reformasi manifesto that he rode to power, distressing devoted followers who had stuck with him from the time he was consigned to the political wilderness in 1998 by Mahathir and convicted of sexual perversion and corruption in a trial widely regarded as trumped up. They have now largely turned away from him although they regard the Parti Islam se-Malaysia and Bersatu alternative to his Pakatan Harapan coalition as dangerous and so remain outside the opposition.

Merdeka Center, arguably the country’s most respected polling organization, reported on June 23 that Anwar has a personal approval rating of 55 percent. But the center’s program director, Ibrahim Suffian, told Channel News Asia that in light of recent events, he would have to shave 5 to 10 points from the survey.

Anwar admittedly has had to steer a difficult course since he became premier, forced into a cumbersome unity government by the then-king, Pahang Sultan Abdullah, after more than two years of political chaos, meaning he had to make concessions to his coalition partner to buy stability at the cost of his ability to pursue reforms. He chose Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the president of the United Malays National Organization, which was ousted in 2018 after six scandal-ridden decades in power, freeing Zahid from the middle of a criminal trial on 43 counts of looting a charity. The other “Dismissal Not Amounting to Acquittal” saved Zahid from prosecution. UMNO officials branded as corrupt in the wake of the 2018 election that drove the Barisan Nasional from power have never been prosecuted.

He has kept in place the controversial Malaysia Anti-Corruption Chief Azam Baki, an UMNO holdover and in fact critics say, has used the MACC against his political enemies including Mahathir’s sons and the late Daim Zainuddin, Mahathir’s finance chief, who died in 2024, notwithstanding the fact that they probably deserved to be investigated.

Anwar’s critics say he has failed to reverse a series of repressive laws, including the Sedition Act, the Communications and Multimedia Act, and the Printing Presses and Publications Act, using the laws to harass and prosecute activists, government critics, and others exercising fundamental freedoms. The communications minister, Ahmad Fahmi Fadzil, has particularly come under attack for his repressive moves against bloggers and other media. “Don't get upset with me if there is a call or a radio car outside of your house. We are monitoring, behave yourself," he threatened critics in 2023.

While Anwar has disappointed his liberal followers, he has failed to attract widespread support from the ethnic Malay constituency he needs to stay in power, despite expanding the role of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, or Jakim beyond preaching and organizing events, with critics calling him out for being an Islamist. Anwar’s attempt to lead with Islamic values and principles is used by his detractors to claim that he is both too liberal and too Islamist.

There are growing concerns over whether the Madani government—an uneasy coalition between Pakatan Harapan, the shredded Barisan Nasional and East Malaysian parties —can sustain itself through a full electoral term. Despite striking declarations, the critics say, Anwar, who won his spurs as a galvanic public speaker, has never forced through the institutional and structural reforms he promised. Now he and his party are likely to pay for it. The next general election is in 2028, giving Anwar three years to restore trust and confidence if he can hang on.