Anwar Ibrahim for Prime Minister?

Picture taken from Wikipedia

Looks like we may have Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as our next Prime Minister with Pakatan Rakyat as our new government if it is true that more than 30 BN MPs are jumping ship as is reported by Malaysiakini (article pasted below).

So, what do we know about Anwar Ibrahim? Well, for one thing, he is a very charismatic leader with excellent English and good public speaking skills as opposed to Mr Mumble-mumble Talk Like Kampung Pakcik Pak Lah.

But who is Anwar Ibrahim essentially? Well, he has a website and blog which I am sure everyone knows. I have found some trivia about him just for the sake of it. He is after all a Penang boy and may possibly become our next Prime Minister! Here it is:

Anwar Ibrahim was born in Cherok Tok Kun on August 10, 1947.

His wife, Datin Seri Wan Azizah is PKR president and Permatang Pauh MP. They have six children, one of whom, Nurul Izzah is the Lembah Pantai MP.

He used to be Deputy Prime Minister between 1993 and 1998 and Finance Minister between 1991 - 1998. He was also Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1983, Minister of Agriculture in 1984, Minister of Education in 1986.

He joined Umno in 1982 and became Umno Youth chief in 1984 and Umno vice president in 1986 which goes to show how good a speaker he is!

Now, comes the interesting part, he is also an ex-convict like our CM Lim Guan Eng but the similarity ends there. Guan Eng was jailed for standing up for a Malay girl and Anwar is for much more serious allegations.

I am sure everyone knows about his alleged homosexual case and corruption case which saw the birth of Parti Keadilan Rakyat almost 10 years ago (1999). He was jailed for 6 years for corruption in 2000 and sentenced to another 9 years for alleged homosexual acts. However, after he completed serving the sentence for corruption (after reduction for good behaviour) he was released in 2004 when the homosexual conviction was overturned by the Federal Court. So, essentially, he had spent 5 years in prison!

Anwar could not actively go back to politics due to his conviction and the last day of the ban is next Monday, Apr 14.

So, he had kept himself busy all this while as the PKR de-facto leader and also lectured at St Anthony's College at Oxford, John Hopkins University and Georgetown University. He was also appointed as the Honorary President of the London based organization AccountAbility in March 2006.

However, all about him is not squeeky clean. Remember the 50 Dalil Kenapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM ("50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Become Prime Minister")? It contained allegations of Anwar as a homosexual, an adulterer and more importantly, as corrupt as the rest of our dirty politicians. The author died in 2005 and a court found that the book is libelous and awarded Anwar millions in the his suit against the author for publishing the book.

In recent times, in actions that more or less acknowledge the power Anwar had over the people, our PM and others such as Dr Chandra Muzaffar had taken potshots at Anwar no end before, during and even after the elections.

As for ground talk, many people are uncertain over the genuineness of Anwar now. He is after all a former Umno leader. And what about the corruption conviction? Will there be smoke without fire? Or was it really because of Mahathir's way of getting rid of a potential threat to his Prime Ministership?

There were talks that Anwar may present an image of 'I am for all Malaysians' but it was all just a political front to gain confidence of the people. Of course, Umno and BN supporters are slinging mud at him saying his is corrupted and also racist.

While PKR supporters literally worship the ground he walks on.

We will never know if Anwar is still the same Anwar who was the Deputy Prime Minister so many years ago. The imprisonment may have changed him and his perspectives. Or it may not have left a bit of effect on him, which I personally feel is not possible considering the horrid conditions of our jail.

So, the only way we will know for sure is to see if he really do take over the helm and judge his performance then.

As for the homosexual allegations, I couldn't care less. What he does in his spare time is his problem but I do hope the corruption allegations are just allegations with no basis.

We do not need another corrupted Prime Minister.

Article taken from Malaysiakini.com:

Azmin: More than 30 BN MPs ready to jump ship

Beh Lih Yi | Apr 10, 08 2:33pm

Opposition party PKR today claimed it has received “overwhelming” responses from the ruling Barisan Nasional parliamentarians looking to defect to the Anwar Ibrahim-led party.

“It was out of our expectation. We only need 30 more seats, but the response is so overwhelming now, 30 seats are the minimum (we can get),” PKR vice-president Azmin Ali told reporters at the party headquarters in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur today.

Azmin said this when asked on the progress of the negotiation and the number of BN MPs that the oppositions have held talks with. He did not indicate as to which BN-affiliated parties these MPs belong to.

Last Saturday, Azmin was reported to have said the party has already persuaded “close to 30" BN MPs to reject the leadership of its chairperson and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Pressed for more details today, Azmin said PKR will make further announcement at a right time.

“It is Abdullah who is running out of time, we are not, we will announce the details at a right time,” noted Azmin, who is also the Gombak MP and Bukit Antarabangsa state assemblyperson.

Not against people’s interest

He brushed aside suggestions that such defections would be against the voters’ interest as the MPs were elected under the BN banner in the first place.

“We did not offer any money to them (to crossover), what we offered is that their voters will be defended with fairness and justice,” he said.

In the March 8 polls, the ruling BN lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament when its candidates won only 140 seats. Opposition parties PKR, DAP and PAS won the remaining 82 seats.

The three parties - now called the Pakatan Rakyat alliance - also captured four states while PAS retained its control over Kelantan.

Since the elections, PKR is said to have been courting BN MPs, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, in a bid to wrest the required 30 parliamentary seats to form the federal government.