Anwar Ibrahim
- Category : 1947-births
- Type : MGP
- Profile : 4/6 - Opportunistic / Role Model
- Definition : Split - Small (53,57)
- Incarnation Cross : RAX The Sphinx 3
Biography
Anwar Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician. He is the de facto Leader of Opposition of Malaysia (Pakatan Rakyat), economic advisor to the state government of Selangor[2] and leader of PKR (KeADILan). He served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1993 to 1998 and Finance Minister from 1991 to 1998. He cam to prominence as a student leader and was detained for 20 months under Malaysia's Internal Security Act. Later he joined the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), the dominant party of the coalition which has governed Malaysia since independence in 1957. He rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming Education Minister, then Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He subsequently fell out with the Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, over issues of corruption, cronyism and the Malaysian response to the Asian financial crisis of 1997. He was subsequently arrested and charged with corruption and sodomy ("Sodomy 1" trial), charges widely regarded as politically motivated. He was jailed for 9 years, thus removing him from the political scene. After international protests he was released in 2004, but remained banned from politics for another 4 years under Malaysian law.
His supporters had formed a new movement aimed at political reform. This became PKR (People's Justice Party), which joined the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Islamic party (PAS) to form a joint opposition to the ruling coalition. He eventually returned to parliamentary politics in August 2008, but was again arrested after accusations of sodomy. The trial ("Sodomy 2") lasted for several years and he was eventually acquitted in 2012: however, the government appealed against the acquittal which was overturned on 7th March 2014 (coincidentally a few hours before the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 bound for Beijing).
Anwar has held a number of positions with international organisations