Malaysia\u2019s perennial opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was named prime minister on Thursday, ending a days-long political impasse after inconclusive election results.
\nHis ascension will cap a turbulent political life for Anwar \u2014 which has not only propelled him into the corridors of power but also landed him inside a jail cell on corruption and sodomy charges.
\n\u201cAfter taking into consideration the views of Their Royal Highnesses the Malay Rulers, His Majesty has given consent to appoint Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia,\u201d read a statement from the palace of the king, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah.
\nIn the capital Kuala Lumpur, Anwar\u2019s supporters were in a celebratory mood.
\n\u201cI got goosebumps, seriously,\u201d said 36-year-old Norhafitzah Ashruff Hassan.
\n\u201cHe fought hard to be given the chance to be PM. I hope he performs well and proves his worth,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cI cannot express in words the ecstatic feeling I have,\u201d said Muhammad Taufiq Zamri, a 37-year-old product manager.
\nHe said, \u201cA sense of optimism now flows and I believe Anwar will lead the country forward.\u201d
\nAnwar\u2019s multi-ethnic Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition won the most seats in the weekend\u2019s election, on an anti-graft message.
\nBut its total of 82 seats was short of the 112 required for a majority.
\nThe king had summoned Anwar and former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin \u2014 whose Perikatan Nasional bloc got 73 seats \u2014 in an attempt to break the deadlock, but no deal could be struck.
\nRollercoaster journey
\nFor Anwar, the premiership is the culmination of a rollercoaster of 25 years.
\nThe firebrand former student activist was close to power in the late 1990s, as finance chief and deputy prime minister to Mahathir Mohamad.
\nBut the two had a bitter falling-out over how to handle the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
\nMahathir sacked his former protege, who was also expelled from their then-party the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and charged with corruption and sodomy.
\nAnwar was sentenced to six years in jail for corruption in 1999 with an additional nine years added for the sodomy charge the following year; the two sentences to run consecutively.
\nAs he claimed political persecution, street protests erupted and evolved into a movement for democratic reforms.
\nThe Mahathir-Anwar tussle has dominated and shaped Malaysian politics over the past four decades, \u201calternately bringing despair and hope, progress and regress to the country\u2019s polity\u201d, according to Oh Ei Sun of the Pacific Research Center of Malaysia.
\nThe Malaysian Supreme Court overturned Anwar\u2019s sodomy conviction in 2004 and ordered him freed.
\nLong time coming
\nAnwar allied with Mahathir during the 2018 elections, when his erstwhile tormentor came out of retirement to challenge incumbent Najib Razak, who was mired in the billion-dollar 1MDB financial scandal.
\nTheir alliance scored a historic victory against UMNO and Najib, who is now serving a 12-year jail term for corruption.
\nMahathir became prime minister for the second time with an agreement to hand over the premiership to Anwar later.
\nHe never fulfilled that pact and their alliance collapsed after 22 months.
\n\u201cThis is a long time coming for Anwar Ibrahim,\u201d Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, deputy managing director at strategic advisory firm Bower Group Asia, told AFP.
\n\u201cOne of his agendas is to ensure he is able to fulfil his reform agenda as he looks to stabilise a loosely cobbled federal coalition,\u201d he further said.
\nJames Chin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania, told AFP that the announcement \u201cwill be welcomed internationally since Anwar is known as a Muslim democrat worldwide\u201d.
\n\u201cHis biggest challenge will be to lead Malaysia out of the economic malaise following the pandemic,\u201d the professor added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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