Is it curtains for Anwar and Pakatan if second sodomy challenge fails?
Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, Malay Mail Online
As Malaysia’s top court sits today to hear Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal against a controversial second sodomy conviction, the million-ringgit question weighing on the minds of the opposition leader’s supporters and allies isn’t really if he will go to jail, but what happens next.
For the past six years, party colleagues, allies and even international rights groups have argued that the second sodomy charge and subsequent conviction of Anwar to be attempts by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to permanently end the political career of the man once dubbed the “Comeback Kid” and snuff his dream of taking over Putrajaya, in addition to crippling the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition bloc.
Far from being petrified at the prospect of being locked behind bars once more, the 67-year-old has in recent weeks displayed a determination and sense of optimism for his future, and that of the alliance he leads, that have surprised even his confidants.
“Although I am realistic that I may very well be thrown in jail, but my battlefield is in this country. I will live and die here,” Anwar told a gathering of some 100 of his supporters during a special prayer session at his home in Segambut last night.
He added, “I need to set an example to bring change… and this requires a little sacrifice.”
In the week leading up to today’s Federal Court hearing, Anwar has been on a roll, going from town to town and state to state and telling the same distinct message: that he sees the fight against his political foes as necessary, even if it means that he must do time.
Speaking calmly to his supporters who showed up at his home, the Penang-born former deputy prime minister-turned-opposition leader gave his assurance that PR would set aside their “small differences” and work together as a coalition regardless of the outcome of his court case.
“In the event of a worse case scenario, Pakatan Rakyat will have an emergency meeting this Wednesday… we will not run away from defending our principles,” Anwar said, marking a distinct change from the same person who had previously said he was seriously contemplating quitting politics and going back to teaching.
PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli said that Anwar’s position as opposition leader was a non-issue and would remain unchanged even if the Federal Court upheld the conviction and sent the Permatang Pauh MP back to jail.
“He was, and still is our prime-minister-in-waiting. Even before 2008. This has not changed. Why would we need to find a replacement?” Rafizi told Malay Mail Online when contacted.
The Pandan MP pointed out that Anwar was not a “micro-manager” when it came to delegating tasks within the three-party-pact.
He added that as a result, each leader in PR has a specific role to carry out and that this would remain unaffected even in the likelihood that the Federal Court would back the appellate court’s conviction call.
“As a party, PKR has its leader: Azmin, Nurul Izzah, Saifuddin and many others. The party is stable and will carry on,” Rafizi said.
The trio he named were Anwar’s protege Azmin Ali who is now PKR deputy president and Selangor mentri besar, Anwar’s eldest daughter who has followed her father’s footsteps and entered Parliament’s lower house as an elected representative, and Datuk Saifuddin Ismail Nasution, the previous PKR secretary-general.
DAP’s Tony Pua echoed Rafizi’s remarks, saying that his party would continue supporting Anwar’s leadership of PR regardless of the court outcome.
“If he is willing to forego exile, and sacrifice himself to be jailed by a corrupt regime, then we will stand by him,” the DAP publicity chief said of Anwar in a text message to Malay Mail Online.
The Federal Court is set to hear today Anwar’s challenge of the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a lower court’s decision to acquit him of sodomy.
The High Court had in 2012 acquitted Anwar of a 2008 sodomy charge — his second since 1998 — but the appellate court ruled on March 7 this year that the trial judge had erred when rejecting the DNA evidence produced in the case.
If Anwar fails to reverse his five-year imprisonment sentence and conviction in the Federal Court, the Permatang Pauh MP would lose his seat as the law bars anyone fined RM2,000 or imprisoned for one year from serving as a lawmaker.
