Anwar Renews Commitment After Missing Malaysian Power Deadline
By Chan Tien Hin and Angus Whitley, Bloomberg
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who missed two deadlines to unseat the government this year, renewed his commitment and urged supporters to be patient as Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak prepares to assume power.
“I ask you to bear with us; the challenges we face cannot be overcome in a single month and some may take more than a year to redress,” Anwar, Malaysia’s deputy premier from 1993 to 1998, said in a speech today to the People’s Justice Party at a stadium outside Kuala Lumpur. We “remain committed to the agenda for change and our tenacity has never been stronger.”
Anwar, who in March cut the government’s majority to its smallest in half a century, has faded from prominence since failing twice in September to convince government lawmakers to defect to the opposition. He may have another chance at the ballot box within a year, said analyst Khoo Kay Peng.
“Najib will want to come in with a new mandate,” said Khoo, who runs his own political consultancy business near Kuala Lumpur. “If he thinks the economy is on the mend, then perhaps the end of 2009, or the first quarter of 2010, will be the right time to call for an election.”
Malaysia’s prime minister doesn’t have to call an election before 2013. The government has forecast economic growth of 3.5 percent in 2009, the slowest expansion in eight years.
After inflicting the biggest election losses on the coalition since Malaysia’s independence in 1957, Anwar said repeatedly he’d replace Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi by mid-September. Enough ruling lawmakers were ready to switch sides and hand Anwar control of parliament, he said.
‘Skirted With Destiny’
Instead, Abdullah, who leads the National Front coalition, in October accelerated a handover to his deputy, Najib Razak, to March from a previous timetable of mid-2010. Anwar the same month said he was running out of options.
“Yes, there have been setbacks,” Anwar said today. “We skirted with destiny on Sept. 16 and despite our best efforts our march to victory has been delayed.”
The global recession has made the economy Malaysians’ primary concern, rather than a change of government. According to a survey by the Merdeka Center in September, 50 percent of the public view the economy as the biggest issue, compared with 18 percent who ranked political instability as their top concern.
“The economy is in virtual crisis,” Anwar said. “More Malaysians are jobless, or will lose their jobs in the coming year then ever before in our history.”
‘Renew Our Commitment’
Anwar’s alliance is less than 12 months old and has never governed at a national level. Najib, saying the domestic economy won’t fall into recession, on Nov. 4 announced a 7 billion- ringgit ($1.9 billion) stimulus package to spur growth.
The opposition leader’s own party, the People’s Justice Party, is one of three in the People’s Alliance, which is 30 lawmakers short of a majority in the 222-seat parliament.
The opposition has pledged to end Malaysia’s system of preferences in employment and education for ethnic Malays and to reduce corruption. The ruling National Front, headed by the United Malays National Organisation, adopted a race-based system known as the New Economic Policy in 1971.
“Let us renew our commitment,” Anwar said. “Let us resolve to build on what has been accomplished this year and make Malaysia great once again.”
Anwar was fired as deputy prime minister by Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and jailed on charges of having illegal sex with a man and abuse of power. The sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004. Anwar is currently facing similar sex charges after a 23-year-old former male aide filed a complaint with police.
To contact the reporters on this story: Chan Tien Hin in Kuala Lumpur
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; Angus Whitley in Kuala Lumpur at
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