Part I. 1947–1982

Anwar Ibrahim was born on 10 August 1947 in Cherok Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam, Penang, during the final years of British colonial rule in Malaya. He grew up in a family already connected with politics. His father, Ibrahim Abdul Rahman, became a member of parliament, while his mother, Che Yan Hussein, was active in grassroots politics. Anwar attended Bukit Mertajam Boys School and later the prestigious Malay College Kuala Kangsar before entering the University of Malaya.

It was during his university years that Anwar began establishing the public identity that would follow him throughout his political career. He became involved in Muslim student activism and was associated with the National Union of Malaysian Islamic Students (PKPIM). Malaysia was undergoing major social and political change, and young activists were debating poverty, inequality, education, Malay identity, Islam and the direction of the newly independent country. Anwar increasingly emerged as an articulate organizer within this environment.

His activism was not confined to speeches. In 1971, Anwar helped establish Yayasan Anda Akademik, an educational initiative intended to assist young people who had difficulty obtaining opportunities through the conventional education system. Education, poverty and social inequality became recurring themes in his early public life. At this stage, Anwar was building his reputation outside government rather than seeking advancement through the ruling political establishment.

Anwar also became closely associated with Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM), the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement. He became its president in 1974 and emerged as one of the country's most prominent young Islamic activists. ABIM was part of a wider Islamic revival developing among young Malaysians. Anwar's message combined Islamic values with concerns about social justice, education, poverty and moral responsibility in public life.

A major turning point came with the Baling demonstrations of 1974. Poor farmers and rubber smallholders in Kedah were facing severe economic hardship, and university students mobilized in solidarity with them. Anwar became one of the prominent young activists associated with the protests. The demonstrations developed into a wider confrontation between student activists and the government, which regarded the mobilization as a threat to public order.

The authorities arrested Anwar under Malaysia's Internal Security Act, a powerful security law that permitted detention without an ordinary criminal trial. He subsequently spent approximately twenty months in detention. The experience became one of the first major episodes in Anwar's long and complicated relationship with state power. Years before he became a cabinet minister or prime minister, he personally experienced what it meant for the government to deprive a political activist of his liberty without first obtaining a normal criminal conviction.

After his release, Anwar did not disappear from public life. He returned to ABIM and continued developing his influence among young Malaysians. During the late 1970s, his reputation expanded beyond student activism. He became increasingly recognized as a Muslim intellectual and social activist capable of connecting Islamic ideas with contemporary questions of poverty, education, development and governance.

By the beginning of the 1980s, Anwar faced a fundamental political choice. He could remain an influential civil-society and Islamic activist outside government, or he could attempt to pursue his ideas from inside the political system. Malaysia was then dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Barisan Nasional coalition. Joining UMNO would therefore mean entering the same political establishment that Anwar had previously challenged.

In 1981, Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister. The following year, Anwar made the decision that transformed his life: he joined UMNO in 1982. The move surprised some of his supporters because Anwar had built much of his reputation as an independent Islamic youth leader and government critic. His supporters could interpret the decision as an attempt to achieve reform from within government, while critics could view it as the absorption of an influential activist into the political establishment.

Whatever Anwar's personal calculation, the consequences were enormous. He contested and won the parliamentary constituency of Permatang Pauh in the 1982 general election and entered government. His rise would thereafter be extraordinarily rapid. Within little more than a decade, the former student activist would move through several ministries, become finance minister and eventually rise to deputy prime minister, placing him immediately below Mahathir in Malaysia's political hierarchy.

This first period of Anwar Ibrahim's life therefore ended with an important transformation. He began as a student activist speaking about poverty, justice and social responsibility. He experienced detention without trial and learned personally how extensive the coercive powers of the state could be. Yet rather than remaining permanently outside that system, he chose to enter it.

That decision created one of the central contradictions that would follow Anwar throughout his political life: how would a man who had experienced the power of the state as a detainee behave once he himself became part of the state?

Part II. From Activist to the Centre of Malaysian Power, 1982–1998

When Anwar Ibrahim joined the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1982, he began an extraordinary transformation from Islamic youth activist into one of the most powerful politicians in Malaysia. Until then, much of his reputation had been built outside government through student activism, ABIM and campaigns concerning poverty, education and social justice. His entry into UMNO placed him inside the political establishment led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and his advancement from that point was remarkably rapid.

Anwar contested the parliamentary constituency of Permatang Pauh in the 1982 general election and won. He was appointed Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department soon afterward. In 1983 he became Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, followed by appointment as Minister of Agriculture in 1984. Only four years after joining UMNO, Anwar became Minister of Education in 1986, giving him responsibility for one of the country's most politically and socially important government portfolios.

His rapid rise demonstrated the confidence Mahathir placed in him and Anwar's growing influence within UMNO. The former ABIM leader brought with him strong connections among younger Malay Muslims and an intellectual reputation that distinguished him from many conventional party politicians. His transition into government also showed how dramatically his position had changed. A man who had once been detained by the Malaysian state was now helping administer that state and participating in a government that continued to possess extensive powers over political dissent and public life.

Anwar's political influence continued to expand. He became one of UMNO's vice-presidents and increasingly appeared to belong to the generation that might eventually succeed the country's older leadership. In 1991, Mahathir appointed him Minister of Finance. The position placed Anwar at the centre of economic policymaking during a period in which Malaysia experienced rapid industrialization, infrastructure development, foreign investment and substantial economic growth.

As finance minister, Anwar developed a significant international profile. He presented himself as a politician comfortable discussing both Islamic intellectual traditions and modern global economics. International financial institutions, investors and foreign governments increasingly knew him as one of Malaysia's principal economic policymakers. His speeches also addressed questions of civil society, governance, cultural renewal and relations between Islam and modernity.

The decisive moment in his political ascent came in 1993, when Anwar successfully challenged Ghafar Baba for the UMNO deputy presidency. He subsequently became Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, while continuing to serve as finance minister. Only eleven years after entering UMNO, the former student activist had reached the second-highest political position in the country. He was increasingly regarded as a possible successor to Mahathir.

For several years, Mahathir and Anwar appeared to form a powerful political partnership. Mahathir had governed Malaysia since 1981 and dominated the country's political system, while Anwar represented a younger generation and developed his own substantial following within UMNO. Yet Anwar's later image as a democratic reformer should not obscure the fact that during these years he was a senior member of the governing establishment. Laws restricting political activity and expression remained in force, including the Internal Security Act under which Anwar himself had once been detained.

This period is important when assessing Anwar's later political story. He was not merely an outsider who spent his entire career fighting an authoritarian political system. For sixteen years, from 1982 until 1998, he operated from within that system and rose almost to its highest office. He participated in cabinet government and accumulated substantial political authority before eventually becoming a victim of some of the coercive institutions associated with the political order in which he had served.

The relationship between Mahathir and Anwar began deteriorating dramatically during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998. Malaysia's currency and stock market suffered severe pressure, businesses faced mounting financial difficulties and disagreement developed over how the government should respond. Anwar initially pursued policies emphasizing fiscal restraint and measures closer to those advocated by international financial institutions, while Mahathir increasingly blamed international currency speculation and rejected externally prescribed economic solutions.

Their differences extended beyond economic policy. Anwar increasingly spoke about corruption, cronyism and nepotism, subjects with powerful implications inside Malaysia's political and business establishment. Questions also emerged about succession and whether Anwar's growing political network represented a challenge to Mahathir's authority. What had once appeared to be a relationship between a prime minister and his likely successor increasingly developed into a struggle over the future direction of the government and UMNO.

During 1998, the conflict became increasingly public. Mahathir ultimately adopted a different response to the financial crisis, including capital controls and fixing the Malaysian ringgit's exchange rate. But economic disagreement alone does not fully explain the rupture. Political rivalry, questions of loyalty and increasingly serious allegations surrounding Anwar became intertwined with the struggle between the two men.

On 2 September 1998, Mahathir dismissed Anwar from his positions as deputy prime minister and finance minister. The following day, Anwar was expelled from UMNO. The political rise that had continued almost uninterrupted for sixteen years ended with extraordinary speed. A man who had stood one step below the premiership suddenly found himself outside the government and the party through which he had built his political power.

Anwar responded by taking his struggle directly to the public. He denied allegations emerging against him and argued that his removal resulted from a political conspiracy designed to destroy him and prevent him from challenging Mahathir. He began openly attacking corruption, abuse of power and cronyism and called for political change under the banner of Reformasi — Reform. Large crowds gathered at demonstrations, turning an internal struggle among political leaders into a broader national movement.

The government, however, increasingly treated Anwar and the demonstrations surrounding him as a threat to public order. On 20 September 1998, police arrested Anwar at his home. His arrest marked another remarkable reversal in his life. Twenty-four years after being detained as a young activist, and only weeks after serving as Malaysia's deputy prime minister, Anwar was once again a prisoner of the Malaysian state.

What happened after his arrest would transform both his political career and his public image. While in police custody, Anwar was physically assaulted by Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police, Abdul Rahim Noor. When Anwar later appeared in court with a severely bruised eye, the photograph became internationally famous. Rahim subsequently admitted assaulting him and was convicted for the attack.

The image of Anwar's black eye became one of the defining symbols of the Reformasi movement. The former deputy prime minister who had spent sixteen years inside the Malaysian government was now confronting the coercive power of the same state from the other side.

His dismissal and arrest were only the beginning.

Anwar would soon face separate criminal proceedings involving abuse of power and allegations of sodomy. He would deny the accusations and describe them as politically motivated. Courts would convict him, international human-rights organizations would raise serious concerns about the proceedings, and he would spend years in prison.

The man who had entered UMNO in 1982 believing that political change could be pursued from within the system had, by the end of 1998, become one of that system's most famous prisoners.

Part III. Corruption and the First Sodomy Case, 1998–2004

Anwar Ibrahim's arrest on 20 September 1998 began one of the most controversial periods in Malaysian political history. Only weeks earlier he had been deputy prime minister and finance minister, standing close to the country's highest political office. After his dismissal by Mahathir Mohamad and expulsion from UMNO, Anwar launched the Reformasi movement, accusing the government of corruption, cronyism and abuse of power. Large demonstrations followed, while the authorities increasingly treated Anwar and the movement surrounding him as a challenge to political order.

Shortly after his arrest, Anwar was assaulted while being held in police custody. When he appeared in court on 29 September 1998, he had a severely bruised and swollen eye. The image of the former deputy prime minister with a black eye spread across Malaysia and internationally and became a symbol of the Reformasi movement. Anwar said that he had been blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten while in custody. The man responsible was later established to be Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police, Abdul Rahim Noor, who eventually admitted assaulting Anwar and was convicted for causing hurt.

The assault had particular significance because Anwar had spent sixteen years at the centre of the Malaysian government. He had served in several ministries and had been the country's second-highest political leader. Now he had personally experienced physical violence while under the control of one of the most powerful institutions of that same state. For his supporters, the black eye became evidence of what could happen when a political leader who had once belonged to the establishment became its opponent.

The Abuse-of-Power Case

Anwar soon faced criminal proceedings commonly described as his corruption case, but the nature of the charges should be explained carefully. He was not principally accused in this case of simply stealing public money or personally accepting a financial bribe. Prosecutors accused him of abusing his official position while deputy prime minister by directing senior police officers to obtain retractions of allegations concerning his sexual conduct.

Anwar denied wrongdoing and argued that the allegations and prosecution formed part of a political conspiracy following his conflict with Mahathir. His trial began in late 1998 under intense domestic and international attention. The prosecution maintained that Anwar had improperly used the authority of his office, while his defence argued that state institutions were being mobilized to destroy a former deputy prime minister who had become a political challenger.

In April 1999, the High Court found Anwar guilty on four counts of corruption involving abuse of power and sentenced him to six years in prison. The conviction was subsequently upheld through the appeals process. The case therefore remained legally distinct from the sexual allegation that would produce his next trial. This distinction is important because the corruption conviction and the sodomy conviction are sometimes incorrectly presented as though they were a single criminal proceeding.

The First Sodomy Prosecution

Anwar separately faced prosecution for allegedly committing sodomy with his former family driver, Azizan Abu Bakar. Anwar categorically denied the allegation. He maintained that the sexual accusations had been fabricated to humiliate him publicly, destroy his reputation in the predominantly Muslim country and permanently remove him as a political threat.

The proceedings became highly controversial. Human-rights organizations raised concerns about the handling of evidence, changes in dates associated with the alleged offence, restrictions placed on the defence and allegations that statements connected with the investigation had been obtained through coercion. Anwar's defence argued that these irregularities supported his contention that the case was politically constructed.

The prosecution, however, maintained that the case was legitimate and that Anwar should be judged according to the evidence presented in court. The government rejected his allegation that the prosecution was simply a political conspiracy. These competing interpretations became part of a national dispute extending far beyond the question of one defendant's criminal responsibility.

On 8 August 2000, the High Court convicted Anwar of sodomy and sentenced him to an additional nine years in prison. The sentence was ordered to follow his existing six-year sentence for abuse of power. A politician who had been Malaysia's deputy prime minister only two years earlier therefore faced the prospect of spending many years behind bars.

International human-rights organizations strongly criticized the proceedings. Amnesty International eventually regarded Anwar as a prisoner of conscience, while Human Rights Watch raised serious concerns about due process and the political circumstances surrounding the prosecutions. Their criticism did not itself overturn the Malaysian court judgments, but it became an important part of the international record concerning Anwar's imprisonment.

Reformasi Survives His Imprisonment

Imprisoning Anwar did not end the political movement created by his dismissal. Instead, Reformasi developed beyond Anwar himself. His wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, assumed an increasingly prominent political role and helped establish Parti Keadilan Nasional, which later developed into Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). The movement brought together people concerned with political reform, judicial independence, corruption, civil liberties and opposition to the long dominance of Barisan Nasional.

Anwar therefore remained politically influential even from prison. His treatment became part of opposition campaigning, while the photograph of his injured face continued to symbolize allegations of abuse by state institutions. What had begun as a struggle between Mahathir and his former deputy increasingly contributed to the development of a more organized national opposition.

The political environment changed significantly when Mahathir Mohamad stepped down as prime minister in October 2003 after twenty-two years in office. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi succeeded him. Anwar remained imprisoned, but the man with whom his confrontation had begun was no longer prime minister when the final appeal against his sodomy conviction reached Malaysia's highest court.

The Federal Court Reverses the Sodomy Conviction

On 2 September 2004, Malaysia's Federal Court overturned Anwar's sodomy conviction by a 2–1 majority. The majority found significant problems with the prosecution's case and concluded that the conviction could not safely stand. The decision removed the nine-year sodomy sentence that had been imposed in 2000.

Anwar's earlier abuse-of-power conviction was not overturned by this decision. He had already served the relevant period arising from that sentence. With the sodomy conviction set aside, there was therefore no remaining sentence requiring his continued imprisonment, and Anwar was released after almost six years behind bars.

This distinction is essential to an accurate account of his history. The 1999 abuse-of-power conviction remained, while the 2000 sodomy conviction was overturned by Malaysia's highest court in 2004. Saying simply that Anwar was “cleared of everything” would therefore be incorrect, just as presenting the first sodomy conviction without mentioning its eventual reversal would give readers an incomplete account.

Anwar emerged from prison physically weakened but politically alive. His attempt to succeed Mahathir had apparently been destroyed, and his abuse-of-power conviction temporarily prevented an immediate return to elected office. Yet Reformasi had survived, an organized opposition movement had developed around his political struggle, and the reversal of his sodomy conviction gave him an opportunity to rebuild his public life.

His experiences between 1998 and 2004 would become central to the political identity he later presented to Malaysia and the international community. He had lost power, been arrested, assaulted while in state custody, prosecuted and imprisoned. International organizations had intervened publicly on questions concerning his rights and the fairness of his treatment.

These experiences would later make Anwar's language of justice, human dignity, freedom and protection against abuse of state power particularly powerful.

But his confrontation with the criminal justice system was not over.

After rebuilding his political career and returning to the centre of Malaysia's opposition, Anwar would face another allegation of sodomy in 2008. That second case would follow a different legal path: arrest, trial, acquittal, prosecution appeal, reversal of the acquittal and ultimately another period in prison.

The next chapter of Anwar Ibrahim's life would therefore test whether the political prisoner released in 2004 could transform himself once again into a serious contender for national power.

Part IV. Political Comeback and the Second Sodomy Case, 2004–2015

When Anwar Ibrahim was released from prison on 2 September 2004, after Malaysia's Federal Court overturned his first sodomy conviction, his political future remained uncertain. He had spent almost six years behind bars, his relationship with UMNO had been destroyed, and his surviving abuse-of-power conviction temporarily prevented him from immediately returning to elected political office. Yet his imprisonment had not destroyed the Reformasi movement. Instead, Anwar gradually rebuilt his public position and once again became the central figure of Malaysia's opposition.

During the years following his release, Anwar travelled internationally, lectured and rebuilt political relationships while remaining closely associated with the opposition movement led by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). His wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, had played a central role in sustaining the movement during his imprisonment. Anwar's formal political disqualification eventually expired in April 2008, clearing the way for his return to electoral politics.

By then, Malaysia's political landscape had changed substantially. In the March 2008 general election, the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition suffered one of its most serious electoral setbacks, losing its traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament. Opposition parties made major gains and captured several state governments. Anwar, although not yet a member of parliament himself, emerged as the most prominent figure attempting to unite the different opposition parties into a credible national alternative to Barisan Nasional.

But just as Anwar was preparing his return to Parliament, another allegation of sodomy appeared. On 28 June 2008, a young former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, made a police report alleging a sexual encounter with Anwar. Anwar categorically denied the accusation and argued that he was again being targeted through a politically motivated criminal case designed to prevent his return to national power.

The political circumstances surrounding the accusation immediately generated controversy. Saiful had met Najib Razak, who was then Malaysia's deputy prime minister, shortly before making his allegation. Najib acknowledged that the meeting had taken place but rejected suggestions that he had orchestrated the accusation or prosecution. The existence of the meeting did not itself prove that the allegation was fabricated, but its timing became an important element in arguments made by Anwar and his supporters about the political context of the case.

Police arrested Anwar on 16 July 2008. He was later charged under Malaysia's law criminalizing sodomy. The prosecution ultimately proceeded on the basis of alleged consensual sexual conduct rather than forcible sexual assault. Anwar denied that the alleged act had occurred at all. Human-rights organizations separately argued that consensual sexual relations between adults should not be criminalized and called for Malaysia's colonial-era sodomy provisions to be repealed.

Despite the criminal case, Anwar successfully returned to electoral politics. His wife vacated her parliamentary constituency of Permatang Pauh, allowing Anwar to contest the resulting by-election. On 26 August 2008, he won the seat by a large majority and returned to Parliament. He subsequently became parliamentary opposition leader, completing an extraordinary political comeback only four years after leaving prison.

The Second Sodomy Trial

Anwar's second sodomy trial began in February 2010. The proceedings attracted intense attention because of his political position and because the accusations appeared to repeat a pattern from the prosecutions following his dismissal in 1998. Anwar maintained throughout the proceedings that the case was politically motivated, while the Malaysian government and prosecution rejected that allegation and maintained that the criminal justice process should be allowed to proceed.

Forensic evidence became one of the central disputes. Prosecutors relied heavily upon DNA evidence that they said connected Anwar to the alleged sexual encounter. The defence challenged the collection, handling and storage of biological samples and questioned whether their integrity had been preserved. The dispute over the DNA evidence eventually became decisive in the first judgment.

Medical evidence also attracted attention. Human Rights Watch reported that a medical examination conducted at Kuala Lumpur Hospital did not produce conclusive clinical findings of penetration. That finding did not by itself establish whether the alleged sexual activity had occurred, but it formed part of the broader evidentiary dispute. The prosecution relied on the complainant's testimony together with forensic evidence, while Anwar's defence challenged both the reliability of the evidence and the political circumstances surrounding the prosecution.

Acquitted in 2012

On 9 January 2012, the Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted Anwar. The judge expressed concerns about the integrity of the DNA samples and concluded that it would not be safe to rely upon that evidence to corroborate the complainant's testimony. Without reliable corroboration, the court concluded that the prosecution had not established the case sufficiently for conviction.

For Anwar and his supporters, the acquittal appeared to vindicate years of claims that the prosecution should never have proceeded. Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision while continuing to argue that Malaysia should repeal laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relations.

The case, however, was not finished.

The prosecution exercised its legal right to appeal the acquittal. This decision generated renewed criticism from Anwar's supporters and international human-rights organizations, which argued that the prosecution should have ended after the High Court judgment. Malaysian authorities maintained that the appeal was a legitimate part of the judicial process.

Meanwhile, Anwar continued leading the opposition. In the 2013 general election, the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition achieved another major electoral advance and won more of the nationwide popular vote than Barisan Nasional. However, because parliamentary representation was determined constituency by constituency rather than by the national popular vote, Barisan Nasional retained a majority of parliamentary seats and remained in government under Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The Acquittal Is Overturned

On 7 March 2014, Malaysia's Court of Appeal overturned Anwar's 2012 acquittal. The court accepted the prosecution's appeal, convicted him of sodomy and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment.

The timing generated substantial controversy because Anwar was preparing to contest the Kajang state by-election, a political move that could have positioned him to assume a major role in the Selangor state government. The Court of Appeal decision made him ineligible to contest that election. Human Rights Watch criticized both the prosecution and the speed with which the appeal proceedings were conducted.

Anwar remained free temporarily while appealing the conviction to Malaysia's highest court. His lawyers continued challenging the forensic evidence and argued that the case had been politically motivated from the beginning. The government rejected those allegations and insisted that the proceedings were independent judicial matters.

The final domestic decision came on 10 February 2015. Malaysia's Federal Court upheld Anwar's conviction and five-year prison sentence. He was taken into custody immediately.

This outcome differed fundamentally from the conclusion of his first sodomy case. In 2004, the Federal Court had overturned Anwar's first sodomy conviction and he was released. In 2015, the Federal Court did the opposite: it upheld his second sodomy conviction and returned him to prison.

International human-rights organizations strongly criticized the result. Human Rights Watch characterized the prosecution as politically motivated and again criticized Malaysia's criminalization of consensual same-sex conduct. Amnesty International raised similar concerns about Anwar's imprisonment and the broader human-rights implications of the case. These assessments were important parts of the international response, although they did not change the legal fact that Malaysia's highest court had upheld the conviction.

Later in 2015, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention examined Anwar's case and concluded that his detention was arbitrary. It called for his immediate release and for his political rights to be restored. The intervention added an important international dimension to Anwar's position: once again, he was a Malaysian political prisoner whose treatment was being challenged by international human-rights mechanisms.

The events from 2008 to 2015 therefore created another extraordinary reversal in Anwar's life. He had emerged from his first imprisonment, rebuilt the opposition, returned to Parliament and again become a serious national political figure. He had initially been acquitted of the second sodomy allegation, only for that acquittal to be overturned on appeal and the resulting conviction ultimately upheld by the Federal Court.

Anwar continued to maintain his innocence and insist that political forces were behind the prosecution. His opponents rejected that explanation. An accurate historical record must preserve both the judicial outcome and the substantial controversy surrounding the proceedings rather than presenting either political interpretation as though it were itself a judicial finding.

By February 2015, Anwar was once again behind bars.

He had now personally experienced detention without trial as a young activist, imprisonment following his first political downfall, physical assault in police custody, two separate sodomy prosecutions, years of litigation and a second period of imprisonment. International organizations that believed his rights had been violated were again calling for his freedom.

It appeared entirely possible that his decades-long ambition to become prime minister had finally ended.

Instead, events outside his prison cell would produce one of the most improbable reversals in Malaysian political history. The 1MDB scandal would engulf Najib Razak's government, Mahathir Mohamad would turn against UMNO, and the man who had dismissed Anwar in 1998 would eventually become his political ally. That extraordinary reconciliation would lead to the 2018 election, Anwar's full royal pardon and his return to political life.

Part V. Prison, 1MDB, Reconciliation with Mahathir and Royal Pardon, 2015–2018

When Anwar Ibrahim returned to prison in February 2015, his long ambition to become prime minister appeared to have suffered another potentially fatal setback. Malaysia's Federal Court had upheld his second sodomy conviction and five-year sentence. Anwar continued to deny the allegation and maintained that the prosecution had been politically motivated. His imprisonment removed Malaysia's most prominent opposition leader from active parliamentary politics at a time when the country was approaching another major political crisis.

International criticism of Anwar's imprisonment continued. In November 2015, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Anwar's detention was arbitrary and called for his immediate release and restoration of his political rights. Human-rights organizations also continued questioning his prosecution and imprisonment. For Anwar, who had already experienced detention without trial in the 1970s and imprisonment following his political downfall in 1998, international appeals for his rights again became an important part of his political story.

While Anwar remained imprisoned, Prime Minister Najib Razak became engulfed in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. Investigations in Malaysia and abroad examined allegations that enormous amounts of money had been misappropriated from the state investment fund. The United States Department of Justice launched major asset-forfeiture proceedings concerning funds allegedly diverted from 1MDB, while financial authorities and investigators in several countries examined related transactions. Najib repeatedly denied wrongdoing while he remained in office.

The scandal produced a remarkable rupture inside Malaysia's ruling establishment. Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister who had dismissed Anwar in 1998, became one of Najib's most prominent critics. Mahathir eventually left UMNO, the party he had led for decades, and joined the broader movement seeking to remove Najib and Barisan Nasional from power. This created a political possibility that would previously have seemed almost unimaginable: Mahathir and Anwar could find themselves on the same side.

The history between the two men made any reconciliation extraordinary. Mahathir had promoted Anwar through government during the 1980s and 1990s before dismissing him as deputy prime minister in 1998. Anwar was subsequently arrested, assaulted in police custody, prosecuted and imprisoned during Mahathir's premiership. The Reformasi movement itself had emerged from Anwar's struggle against the political system associated with Mahathir's government. For almost two decades, their conflict had shaped Malaysian politics.

Yet by 2016, both men shared a common objective: removing Najib Razak and ending Barisan Nasional's hold on federal power. On 5 September 2016, Mahathir appeared unexpectedly at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, where Anwar was pursuing a legal challenge. The two men met and shook hands for the first time in approximately eighteen years. Photographs of Mahathir standing beside the imprisoned former deputy whom he had dismissed in 1998 immediately became one of the most extraordinary images in Malaysian political history.

The meeting did not erase their past. Anwar had lost years of his life in prison following the confrontation that began under Mahathir. Nor did the handshake establish that the two men suddenly agreed about everything that had happened. Instead, it demonstrated how dramatically Malaysia's political circumstances had changed. Former enemies were prepared to cooperate because both now regarded Najib's government and the broader political crisis surrounding 1MDB as the more immediate issue.

The opposition gradually reorganized around Pakatan Harapan, bringing together Anwar's PKR, the Democratic Action Party, Amanah and Mahathir's newly created Bersatu. Because Anwar remained imprisoned and legally unable to contest the election, the coalition selected Mahathir as its candidate for prime minister. An understanding developed that if the coalition won, Anwar would receive a royal pardon and Mahathir would later transfer the premiership to him.

For Anwar and his supporters, this required an extraordinary political compromise. The man whom they had opposed since 1998 would once again become the person standing between Anwar and the prime minister's office. But this time Mahathir was expected not to block Anwar's succession, but eventually to facilitate it.

The 14th Malaysian general election on 9 May 2018 transformed the country's political history. Pakatan Harapan and its allies defeated Barisan Nasional, ending the coalition's uninterrupted control of the federal government since independence. Mahathir returned as prime minister at the age of ninety-two. For the first time, Malaysia experienced a transfer of federal power to the opposition through a general election.

Anwar was still serving his prison sentence when the government changed. But his legal and political circumstances changed almost immediately. Malaysia's king, Sultan Muhammad V, agreed to grant him a full royal pardon. On 16 May 2018, one week after the election, Anwar walked free from the hospital where he had been receiving medical treatment while in custody.

The nature of the pardon should be recorded carefully. Anwar's second sodomy conviction had been upheld by the Federal Court in 2015. Unlike the first sodomy conviction, it was not subsequently overturned by the Federal Court. Instead, Anwar received a full royal pardon in 2018, which removed the legal disabilities preventing his immediate return to political life. Anwar continued to maintain that the prosecution had been politically motivated.

His release produced remarkable scenes. The politician who had repeatedly been declared politically finished was once again free. Twenty years had passed since his dismissal as deputy prime minister. During those years he had experienced two periods of imprisonment, two sodomy prosecutions, political exclusion and repeated attempts to rebuild his career. Now the government that had imprisoned him was gone, his opposition coalition controlled federal power, and the former enemy who had dismissed him was again prime minister.

Anwar soon began preparing his formal return to Parliament. In October 2018, he contested the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election after the sitting member vacated the constituency. Anwar won comfortably and returned to the Dewan Rakyat. He was once again an elected member of parliament and widely expected eventually to succeed Mahathir as prime minister.

But one crucial question remained unresolved: when would Mahathir actually transfer power?

There was no firmly implemented date. Mahathir repeatedly indicated that Anwar would eventually succeed him, but uncertainty over the timing continued. Different political factions developed around the succession question, including tensions within Anwar's own PKR. The arrangement that had united former enemies against Najib therefore contained the seeds of another political crisis.

This period also deepened one of the themes running through Anwar Ibrahim's life. When he was imprisoned and lacked state power, international organizations defended his rights. A United Nations mechanism called for his release. Human-rights organizations challenged his treatment. Political allies campaigned internationally on his behalf. Eventually, he emerged from prison, received a full royal pardon and returned to national politics.

Those experiences strengthened Anwar's public association with justice, human dignity, political freedom and protection from abuse of state authority. Years later, when Anwar finally became prime minister, those principles would no longer be demands he was making of somebody else's government. They would become standards against which his own government could be measured.

But before that could happen, Anwar would experience one more extraordinary political reversal. The promised transfer from Mahathir would fail. The Pakatan Harapan government would collapse in the Sheraton Move of February 2020, Mahathir would resign, and the premiership would once again escape Anwar.

He would have to wait until 2022 before finally reaching the office he had pursued for nearly three decades.