Malaysia's de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is confident he can win over enough government legislators in a parliamentary vote in September to end over 50 years of rule by one party. Anwar said in an interview with Reuters on Monday that he would liberalise the economy and cut corruption to win back the confidence of foreign investors if he became prime minister.
His most immediate task however is to avoid being imprisoned on what he said were trumped-up, politically motivated allegations he had sex with a male aide, which could carry a 20-year jail term under mainly Muslim Malaysia's sodomy laws. "I don't see how they are able to proceed with the case but my legal team suggested that we should come prepared for the worst," the 61-year-old former deputy premier said.
Anwar has long wanted the top job in Malaysian politics and was imprisoned on corruption charges after he was sacked as a minister in 1998. He has also been prosecuted under the country's sodomy laws and won on appeal. Anwar's opposition coalition has made a determined push for power since he came out of prison in 2004 and deprived the government of a two-thirds parliamentary majority in elections in March.
It will stage a confidence vote on September 16 and needs the support of just 30 government legislators in the 222-seat lower house of parliament. It hopes to sway ruling party lawmakers from two resource-rich states to oust the UMNO party from power for the first time since Malaysia won independence in 1957.
"We have gone on the ground. We have been meeting the MPs, including those in Sabah and Sarawak," he said. "They remain committed to the reform agenda." The political uncertainty in the months ahead has roiled financial markets and unnerved investors.
But Anwar said foreign investors should not fret about the power shift and he would adopt market-friendly policies to lure back investors, although he would reintroduce petrol subsidies which have been cut back by the current government.
To pay for petrol subsidies he would raise 5 billion ringgit ($1.53 billion) in part by reducing the amount of spare capacity generators need to maintain, a cost born by state electricity company Tenaga Nasional. "We will have a more transparent economic programme, procurement policies, contracts ... which will be more attractive to foreign investors," he said.
That would include ending political influence over the central bank's rate setting process and introducing a full float for the ringgit currency, the exchange rate of which is effectively managed at present.
He said Malaysia's decades-old affirmative action policy favouring the majority ethnic Malays in jobs, business and education would be reviewed. "The new economic agenda should be transparent. The affirmative action programme must be based on need not on race," he added. "It should not be abused to help a few rich Malays."
Anwar, who is standing in a by-election in a constituency which his wife has vacated, said he was confident of winning. "Assuming things are free and fair, I shouldn't have any problems," he said. The poll, which must be held within the next 60 days, is seen as a major test for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government, who is already battling anger over price hikes. The Election Commission will meet on Wednesday to decide on the date for the poll. Anwar was barred from running for public office until this April because of a conviction for corruption.
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