Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia

Anwar Ibrahim once Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia seemed to be on the political fast track. A protege of former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad he seemed all but assured to be Mahathir's successor once he stepped a side. 1998 would prove to be a pivotal year for both men with Ibrahim attempting remove himself from the shadow of Mahathir bin Mohamad and his ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Ibrahim wanted to rid the UMNO of cronyism and nepotism through its Youth Wing by waging a national campaign against these practices. Mahathir retaliated by publishing lists of those who benefited from these practices among listed were his father Datuk Ibrahim Abdul Rahman and his brothers, Farizan and Marzukh all of them hold large numbers of shares from national and international corporations based in Malaysia. Though the published clearly showed his family benefited the rampant cronyism within the UMNO Ibrahim continued his assault Mahathir's administration accusing it of being corrupt while advocating for a more transparent and open government.

Malaysia like several other "so called" democracies in Asia (Singapore, Uzbekistan, Cambodia and until recently Japan) is a one party state which uses the countries courts to suppress dissent. One always needs "proof" for any allegations to become charges filed against the accused.

At the UMNO General Assembly, a book, 50 Dalil Kenapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM ("50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Become Prime Minister") was circulated containing graphic allegations as well as accusations of corruption against Anwar. This book carried the byline Khalid Jafri, an ex-editor of the government-controlled newspaper Utusan Malaysia and former editor-in-chief of a failed magazine, Harian National.

Even though Anwar Ibrahim was able to get a court injunction against any further publication of the book and would eventually be awarded civil damages in the the millions it didn't stop the government from laying charges of sodomy and corruption against Ibrahim. His first court appearance would lead to large protests

On September 29, 1998 Anwar appeared in court and pleaded innocent to charges of corruption and sodomy. A photo of Anwar with a black eye (which he incurred from a beating by then Inspector General of Police Rahim Noor) and one hand raised became a symbol of the political opposition in many reformasi posters.

Convicted on both counts on April 14, 1999 he was given a six year prison term for corruption and a nine year sentence for sodomy which were to be served concurrently. He was released from prison in 2004 after the High Court voted 2-1 overturning the sodomy conviction even though they didn't seem to believe in their ruling. "We find evidence to confirm that the appellants were involved in homosexual activities and we are more inclined to believe that the alleged incident at Tivoli Villa did happen."

Anwar Ibrahim made a political come-back in March of 2008 when as the head of three party coalition managed not only to win seat in Parliament for himself but his coalition took 1/3 of the seats giving the ruling UMNO its worst showing since coming to power 5 decades ago. The government has continued to pursue charges of sodomy against Ibrahim which were filed once again in 2008.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A Malaysian court Tuesday rejected Anwar Ibrahim's bid to stop his sodomy trial from going forward, dealing another blow to the opposition leader's fluctuating fortunes since he achieved spectacular election results last year.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court denied Anwar's application to have the case thrown out before it is heard in court, and set the trial date for Jan. 25. Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair said he will appeal the decision in the Appeal Court.

"I didn't expect anything different," Anwar, 62, told reporters after the ruling by Justice Mohamad Zabidin Diah.

"The manner in which the case is proceeding seems worrying. I think we are in for a tough battle but we have compelling arguments. We have facts.