SINGAPORE: The path from political prisoner to political power is by no means well-trodden, but those who have made the arduous journey in recent decades include luminaries such as Nelson Mandela, Jawaharlal Nehru, Aung San Suu Kyi, Michelle Bachelet and Václav Havel. To this august group must be added Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who, after nine years in prison, is now showing the same zeal as Mandela did for institutional and economic reform rooted in democratic values.
When I first met Anwar, in 1976, he was president of Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM), the Islamic youth movement that he had founded, and seemed destined for a life spent in the opposition. But then, in 1982, the ruling party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), wisely invited him to join their ranks. In 1993, after a rapid ascent, Anwar became deputy prime minister in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government and was his heir-apparent — until the Asian financial crisis intervened. In 1998, Mahathir sacked Anwar over policy disputes that mushroomed into suspicions that Anwar was plotting a coup.
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