[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 23 Aug 1999
Time: 08:32:58
Remote User: -
Fading prospects for former man of the moment Anwar IAN STEWART in Kuala Lumpur
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speakers at nationwide rallies for the National Justice Party (Keadilan), have said that if the loose alliance of opposition parties comes to power in the impending general election, Anwar Ibrahim will be pardoned and become prime minister. But veteran opposition figures say this reflects wishful thinking in Keadilan, which is headed by Wan Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife, since, in the unlikely event of the ruling National Front coalition suffering defeat, Parti Islam se-Malaysia would most probably win the most seats and insist on providing the new head of government.
The reality for Anwar, the jailed former deputy prime minister, is that he could find his jail term extended if his second trial, which is entering its final phase, ends like the first in a conviction.
The judge in the earlier trial sentenced Anwar to six years' imprisonment after finding him guilty of four charges of corrupt practices.
He is currently being tried on a charge of sodomy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.
Last week, the prosecution closed its case in the sodomy trial, which has seen defence lawyers aggressively challenging the credibility of witnesses for the Government.
Anwar claims he is the victim of a high-level political conspiracy.
But the defence failed to have key witness Azizan Abu Bakar, Anwar's former driver, charged with perjury over contradictory statements made to police or to have the investigating police officer in the case cited for contempt for lying in court.
Anwar was originally charged with sodomising Azizan in May 1994.
The charge was amended to May 1992, and then to a night between January and March 1993 after the defence showed the venue for the alleged offence was not completed by the earlier date.
Also, Azizan told the first trial that Anwar had not sodomised him between 1992 and 1997.
Media and public interest in the second trial is less intense than in the first.
Many Malaysians continue to express anger at the way the former heir apparent to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was sacked, arrested, beaten by the chief of police and brought to trial.
But he is no longer the leading topic of coffee shop conversations.
Anwar is an issue in the current election campaign, with government and opposition parties exploiting their version of events to win votes.
But if the National Front holds on to power without significant losses to the opposition and Anwar fails to win acquittal in his second trial, he faces the unhappy prospect of fading public attention and finding himself something of a forgotten man.