Malaysia’s perennial opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was named prime minister yesterday, ending a days-long political impasse after inconclusive polls.
His naming — making him the country’s fourth leader in as many years — caps a turbulent political life for Anwar, during which he served jail time on corruption and sodomy charges.
“After taking into consideration the views of their royal highnesses the Malay rulers, his majesty has given consent to appoint Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia,” a statement from the royal palace said.
Photo: Reuters
The 75-year-old was sworn in at 5pm.
At the weekend election, Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won the most seats, 82, on an anti-graft message, but fell short of the required 112-seat majority.
Former Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional (National Alliance) bloc had grabbed 73 seats.
Muhyiddin, who was backed by an Islamist party, told reporters on Tuesday that because no bloc had enough numbers, the king had initially asked him and Anwar to form a “unity government.”
Malaysian King Abdullah Ahmad Shah had summoned the two rivals in a bid to break the deadlock.
For Anwar, the top job is the culmination of a rollercoaster 25 years in politics.
The former student activist was close to power in the late 1990s as finance minister and deputy to then-Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
However, the two had a bitter falling out over how to handle the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998.
Mahathir sacked Anwar, who was also expelled from their then-party the United Malays National Organisation, and charged with corruption and sodomy.
He was sentenced to six years in jail for corruption in 1999, with an additional nine years added for the sodomy charge the following year, the two sentences to run consecutively.
As Anwar claimed political persecution, street protests erupted and evolved into a movement calling for democratic reforms.
The Mahathir-Anwar tussle has dominated and shaped Malaysian politics over the past four decades, “alternately bringing despair and hope, progress and regress to the country’s polity,” said Oh Ei Sun of the Pacific Research Center of Malaysia.
The Malaysian Supreme Court overturned Anwar’s sodomy conviction in 2004 and ordered him freed.
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