By A. Ananthalakshmi and Rozanna Latiff
TAMBUN, Malaysia (Reuters) – After twenty years as opposition leader, Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim was poised to finally grow to be prime minister in 2020. But his alliance collapsed from infighting, leaving him as distant as ever from the highest job.
Now, Anwar, 75, is hitting the national campaign trail again, attempting to persuade Malaysians to vote for him within the Nov. 19 election as he looks to finally fulfil his long-held dream of becoming prime minister.
He was in his element on the stump: joking with supporters as he peppered his speech with Quranic verses and Malay folklore to sentence his rivals and burnish his leadership credentials.
“I’m optimistic,” Anwar told Reuters late on Friday after a packed day of campaigning at his constituency Tambun in west Malaysia, referring to his coalition’s possibilities of victory and changing the political landscape in multi-ethnic, Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Political Cartoons on World Leaders
“We’re here to emphasise governance and anti-corruption, and rid this country of racism and non secular bigotry,” he said.
Anwar’s alliance faces two other coalitions within the election – one led by incumbent Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the opposite by former premier Muhyiddin Yassin. There are several other parties within the running, including one founded by one other former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, an element that is predicted to separate the votes greater than ever before.
Opinion polls predict a good race with no single party or coalition having the ability to win an easy majority needed to form the federal government.
Anwar has support from the ethnic-Chinese and Indian minorities, who form a 3rd of the electorate, and from voters in urban areas. In Tambun town, he attracted lots of at a campaign stop, with crowds spilling onto the road and the motive force of a passing ambulance flashing Anwar a thumbs-up sign.
But he lacks widespread appeal amongst majority Malays on account of his opposition to affirmative motion favouring them and past allegations of sodomy, against the law in Malaysia. Anwar has spent around a decade in jail on sodomy and corruption charges.
A survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center showed that Anwar lags behind his two rivals in popularity by 8 to 12 percentage points despite a recent uptick.
Nevertheless, his multi-ethnic coalition was essentially the most favoured by voters at 26%, although nearly 31% were yet to make a decision who to vote for, Merdeka said. Ismail’s Barisan Nasional coalition got here in second at 24%.
Anwar said he is not going to work with Ismail’s or Muhyiddin’s coalitions on account of “fundamental differences”, despite polls saying that alliances could be mandatory to form the subsequent government.
“Any type of coalition will likely be a significant setback because you’re having a coalition with essentially racist or Muslim fanatics,” said Anwar. He also ruled out working with friend-turned-foe Mahathir.
Barisan is led by a Malay nationalist party. Muhyiddin’s coalition also prioritises ethnic Malay interests and includes an Islamist party that has touted shariah law.
Anwar, who was deputy to Mahathir when he was prime minister in his first term, got here near the premiership after the opposition defeated Barisan for the primary time in Malaysia’s history within the 2018 election. His party had joined hands with Mahathir amid widespread anger against the federal government over the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal.
Anwar was in prison through the 2018 election on what he says were politically-motivated sodomy charges, and later pardoned.
Mahathir became prime minister and promised handy over power to Anwar in two years. Anwar’s wife took over as deputy prime minister, however the coalition collapsed in 22 months on account of infighting over the transition.
Muhyiddin briefly became prime minister but Barisan got here back to power in 2021 with Ismail on the helm as a part of one other alliance.
Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs, said Anwar was not prone to get enough Malay support to achieve the finish line.
“More of the agricultural Malay voters will flow back to (Barisan) specifically and Malay parties typically,” he said.
Anwar can be facing pressure from some in his own coalition to step down and make way for brand spanking new leadership after over twenty years on the helm.
Asked if this election could be his last, Anwar said he knew his limits.
“Whether I’m considered relevant or not in the subsequent few years, that is for the people to make a decision,” he said.
(Reporting by A. Ananthalakhsmi and Rozanna Latiff)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.