Anwar, Ibrahim | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

(b. 1948), Malaysian politician. Ibrahim Anwar is the popular former Malaysian deputy premier who was ousted in 1998. Born in 1948 in Penang, Anwar was a youth leader and vocal critic of the government in the 1970s. In 1972 he founded the Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Islamic Youth Movement, or ABIM), which grew to some 100,000 members. He was courted by the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) party leaders, and he joined the ruling party in 1982. He won a seat in parliament that year and also narrowly won the UMNO Youth leadership, putting him in touch with the party's grass roots. In 1987 Anwar became one of UMNO's three vice presidents. In 1991 he became the powerfulminister of finance, a post he held until 1998. In 1993 he became UMNO deputy president, the country's deputy premier, and a member of UMNO's 35-person supreme council.

Anwar was arguably the country's most popular politician, especially among the youth and indigenous Malays. His popularity was in part due to his stature as a student activist who challenged the political status quo and later became a youth leader for UNMO, but more so because he had become a model of a devout Muslim who was still committed to modernism and economic development. Although he was Prime Minister Muhammad Mahathir's hand-chosen successor, relations between the two began to sour in 1994. Anwar never challenged Mahathir in a leadership contest, though many within UMNO encouraged him to do so, and Mahathir saw Anwar as a threat and sacked him in 1998. Mahathir argued that Anwar was unfit to rule owing to corruption and sodomy allegations, but he was actually ousted over economic policies after the 1997 Asian economic crisis, which discredited Mahathir. Anwar was arrested and sentenced in a highly politicized trial to six years' imprisonment for corruption; he was later tried and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment for sodomy. Despite his arrest and imprisonment, Anwar remains a very popular politician. His supporters have rallied behind his wife, Wan Aziz, who founded the opposition Justice Party.

Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y. Andaya. (2001) A History of Malaysia. 2d ed. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.

Crouch, Harold. (1996) Government and Society in Malaysia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

This is the complete article, containing 388 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).