The verdict was as surprising as it was welcome. On Jan. 9, 2012, leading Malaysian opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim was exonerated of sodomy charges—charges that were generally considered politically motivated. With the acquittal, Anwar has finally risen from the attacks initiated by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The irony is, Anwar was originally Mahathir’s deputy and his closest ally.
Anwar has been among Malaysia’s brightest sons. A fiery student leader, he was both popular and influential, and was promoted quickly through several government positions once he joined the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO, Mahathir’s ruling party. He was named Mahathir’s deputy prime minister in 1993. Everything pointed to Anwar being publicly groomed as Mahathir’s protégé, his successor in both a personal and political capacity.
But things fell quickly apart when Anwar and Mahathir clashed regarding Malaysia’s financial future and the steps government was taking to protect its vital industries, a move that Mahathir had pursued and that Anwar identified as being overly protectionist. A schism cracked open between the two former allies, one that would rip open and prove irreversible.
In what was seen as the first of several brazen attempts to discredit and sideline Anwar politically, he was removed from office and in 1998 was charged with sodomy and corruption, even as he publicly declared his innocence and decried the charges as political harassment.
The timing could not have been worse. For years, Mahathir had been politicizing the country’s judicial system. To the surprise of no one and the outrage of many, Anwar was found guilty of corruption in 1999 and sentenced to six years in prison. He was then found guilty of sodomy in 2000, adding nine years to his prison sentence.
But world opinion was skeptical of the judicial findings. An incarcerated Anwar was soon widely viewed as a political detainee who had the support of several world leaders, including those from the United States and Canada. UMNO was slipping from power, and Mahathir left office in 2003, and his grip on the country, particularly its judicial system, began to soften.
This was quite obvious when Anwar’s corruption conviction was overturned by the Federal Court, Malaysia’s version of the Supreme Court, in 2004. After serving out the remaining years of his corruption conviction with time off for good behavior, Anwar was finally released from prison but was still unable to participate in the country’s politics due to a five-year ban that came with his corruption case.
Anwar returned to lead the opposition movement Parti Keadilan Rakyat to a popular resurgence in the general election of 2008. To cap his political resurrection, Anwar ran for office in his home territory of Penang after his wife, Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, stepped down from office to allow Anwar to contest the position.
But dirty politics was not quite done with Anwar just yet. That same year, a new set of sodomy charges were leveled against Anwar in what was again widely perceived as an attempt to remove him from power and public prominence. The charges couldn’t stop Anwar as he was elected a member of parliament in a massive landslide victory later that year. Anwar’s political return was now almost complete.
Last January 9, that comeback was made complete when Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah of the Kuala Lumpur High Court, after reviewing the DNA evidence, acquitted Anwar of the new sodomy charges. Talking to reporters after the emotional day in court, Anwar echoed the nation’s sentiment when he said: “Thank God justice has prevailed. I have been vindicated. To be honest I am a little surprised.”
He was surprised that a judicial system long held down by the reins of executive power had seemingly shaken off those shackles and freed him, allowing him to now prepare for possible future general elections. This is what was possible with a newly credible judiciary, one which can hold its own against the agenda of others.
The curious case of Anwar Ibrahim gives the Filipinos, fellow Malays, hope as well—hope that this will serve as a concrete evidence that despite a checkered past and political pressure brought upon it by all sides, a truly independent judicial system can deliver fair verdicts, untouched by vengeance or scheming. It is proof that justice—the right of all peoples in the world—always prevails in the end.