Ex-editor: Mahathir wanted memory of Anwar ‘erased’

Kadir Jasin felt that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to erase Anwar from public memory as the editors had built up his image for 16 years.

“For 16 years, we developed Anwar from a rabble rouser, from a street fighter to a consummate politician listened to by Americans”

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wanted media giant New Straits Times (NST) to “try and do away” with his adversary Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim after Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister, a prominent former editor revealed today.

“His (Mahathir’s) feelings were that we should try to do away with Anwar. Maybe we should try to erase the memory of Anwar,” said former NST group editor-in-chief Datuk A Kadir Jasin.

At the “GE13: An analysis and aftermath” seminar today, Kadir said that he told Mahathir that it would be a “Herculean task” as Kadir had groomed Anwar’s image as Mahathir’s successor for 16 years.

Anwar was axed by Mahathir on allegations of corruption and sodomy in 1998 and sentenced to six years in prison for graft, while the conviction for sodomy was overturned.

“What I told the party president (Mahathir) then and people who were carrying out the instructions on his behalf is that it is difficult, and (moreso), if we are talking about having to face an election in the next few months.

“It is almost impossible because (it was) fait accompli… that Anwar (had become) what he was then and still is. We developed Anwar for 16 years,” Kadir said.

“He (Anwar) wasn’t like that when we first met him. In 1982, he was a scrawny fellow, poorly dressed – in batik lusuh (faded batik shirt), not-so-nice pants and sandals.

“He was socialist, a poor person and he was leader of the downtrodden,” said Kadir.

“But we made him into someone who loves shoes made in Milan. I know a guy who went to Milan just to order shoes for Anwar. For 16 years, we developed Anwar from a rabble rouser, from a street fighter to a consummate politician listened to by Americans,” he added.