Anwar Ibrahim

Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim is the charismatic face of the Malaysian opposition. Formerly a high-ranking and popular member of the government of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad in the 1990s, Anwar fell out of favour, and in the late 90s was expelled from political life on corruption and sodomy charges that turned out to be politically motivated. By the time he was acquitted, he had already served six years in prison. On his return to politics in 2008, amid a surge of support for his anti-corruption platform, he was hit with fresh sodomy charges. He claimed they were, again, engineered by his political opponents. Anwar fought a four year court battle against the accusations, and in January of this year he was cleared of all charges. Malaysian politics is currently heating up in advance of the impending election. In May 2012 – after this interview was filmed – Anwar was accused of inciting demonstrators to breach an anti-protest law, because of his appearance at a pro-democracy rally in April. If convicted, he will be disqualified from politics for the near future, ruining his election chances.