Next election 'could be Anwar's last shot for PM post'
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has said he may quit politics if he fails to wrest power in the next general election, expected within a year.
In an interview with Financial Times, the 64-year-old politician admitted that the coming polls would "probably" be his last shot at becoming prime minister, after being sacked 13 yeats ago and jailed on twin charges of sodomy and corruption. "We present our manifesto, our policies and, of course, if I get a mandate, I continue. Otherwise I think I'll go back to teaching," he said in the interview published yesterday.
The influential business daily noted that Mr Anwar seemed tired for a man facing his best shot yet of governing a 28 million multi-racial population fed-up with over half a century of Barisan Nasional rule that appears unable to reform politically, socially and economically.
Mr Anwar's supporters say he is one of a few whose agenda can pull together the country's complex ethnic patchwork, according to the newspaper. Yet critics say his challenge in power would be holding together his coalition, made up of his own Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action Party, and the Islamist Parti Islam Malaysia.
But Mr Anwar refuted the criticisms. "This is not a coalition based on just flimsy deals ... There may be some minor issues that we could argue on, even within one party, or one race. But with the substantive issues, no.
"We are changing the entire political landscape of the country. I think a growing number, particularly the younger Malaysians, want Malaysia to evolve as a mature, vibrant democracy," he said.
The Malaysian Insider reported that despite being acquitted of sodomy charges for the second time earlier this year, the prosecution is still looking to overturn the High Court's ruling, which could end up with him back in jail.
Mr Anwar and two other PKR leaders have also been slapped with several charges over the Bersih rally for clean elections, that could see them jailed up to two years if convicted, stripping Mr Anwar of his lawmaker status.
Asia, The Strait Times, Thurday, July 5 2012, Pg A13