11 Sep 1998 

Confusion again on Clob with KLSE denial 

M'sia may tax contra gains to help stabilise market: Mahathir 

Salomon to assist in restructure of M'sian banking industry 

Anwar free to continue rallies: Dr M 

8% loan growth target poses dilemma for M'sian banks 

Banks return RM dividend cheques 

Umno Youth leader refuses to step down 

It's not all fun and games at KL 98 

Who's the real Anwar?

By Joceline Tan 

A

WEEK, they say, is a long time in politics. And it could not be more true for Anwar Ibrahim. 

Just a little more than a week ago, Mr Anwar was still going about his ministerial duties as though born into it -- flitting from one function to another several times a day, delivering fine speeches, attired stylishly and surrounded by reverential audiences wherever he went. 

"He looks so different now," observed a journalist after an evening assigned to the former deputy prime minister's house in the posh Bukit Damansara enclave. 

Indeed, he does. These days, he is more casual in manners as well as dressing, and even invites visitors to drop the "Datuk Seri" for the more comradely "brother" or saudara. 

He has also become highly critical of the system of which he had been part for the last 16 years and those who have known him since his radical undergraduate days say he seems "almost like the old Anwar". It is these very same people who are adamant that Mr Anwar has been wronged. They find the allegations against him simply too outrageous. 

It is probable too that a large segment of the public is just as incredulous of the allegations which do not square with the moral and high-minded image fostered by Mr Anwar over the years. 

Mr Anwar, it must be remembered, joined Umno as some sort of alternative hero, thanks to his student activism and leadership of Abim (Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia). 

His early years in Umno were marked by his championing of Malay issues like Islam, Bahasa Malaysia and Malay poverty. But it took longer to temper his reputation as a Malay and Islamic radical among the non-Malay population; it was only in the 1990s, following the liberalisation of a host of economic and cultural policies, that he made headway among this group. 

Many believe it was around then -- and particularly after he moved into the deputy premier's post -- that Mr Anwar began to cultivate seriously the sort of image he wished to present to the world. There was a conscious effort to shed the radical Malay/Islamic extremist image with a high-profile move towards multicultural issues. 

For instance, while he continued to take the Islamic platform, he also began to talk about Confucianism, an Asian renaissance and Asian philosophers like Tagore and Rizal. His promotion of a moral, transparent and accountable society also won him admirers. 

It was around then, and shortly after a series of highly flattering cover stories of him in international magazines, that a colleague commented: "I don't know who the real Anwar is anymore." 

Actually, quite a number of people had wondered the same years earlier. 

They were the ones who remember that Mr Anwar had joined Umno to change the system from within, but by the late 1980s, they thought the system had instead changed Mr Anwar. 

Mr Anwar was, and still is, much more media-savvy than most other Malaysian politicians -- he is telegenic, articulate though not necessarily substantive and has a great deal of personal charm. He was the media darling and the media -- local and foreign -- played a big part in creating this image. 

But Mr Anwar's larger-than-life image would not have been possible if not for the numerous doors which Premier Mahathir Mohamad opened for him from the day he joined Umno. Many a time, these were opened at the expense of other Umno leaders. There was this aura around him that he was being groomed to lead the party. 

But having supported Mr Anwar all these years, why would the PM now want to conspire to remove him? It's true Dr Mahathir has outlived two deputies but Musa Hitam resigned whereas Ghafar Baba was forced out by Mr Anwar. 

Those who are behind the prime minister's bold action against Mr Anwar suggest that this time around the issue is not about a power struggle or policy rift. All that, as Dr Mahathir said, he would have been able to handle without affecting Mr Anwar's position. 

The reasons behind Mr Anwar's sacking, as the premier has suggested, are far, far more serious, with implications that impinge on the very future of the country and its people. 

And the reasons may have to do with who the real Anwar Ibrahim is. 

The writer is a staff writer of the New Straits Times.