Anwar: Malaysia has become more corrupt since Mahathir left
Anwar: Malaysia has become more corrupt since Mahathir left
Vijay Joshi, Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur
Charismatic dissident Anwar Ibrahim has unleashed an unexpected attack on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, saying Malaysia has become far more corrupt since the scholarly leader known as "Mr. Clean" took over.
"The level of corruption is pervasive, it is much hidden. It is sophisticated," former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim told The Associated Press in an interview this week.
The allegations come as a surprise because Anwar had initially been full of praise for Abdullah, who took office in October 2003 with a pledge to clean up corruption and allow more democratic space.
"Unfortunately after 1 1/2 years nothing has been done," said Anwar, who is try to revive a political career that was destroyed in 1998 during a bitter feud with then-prime minister Mahathir Mohmad.
Mahathir fired Anwar, his protege-turned-foe, from the government and the ruling party after he was arrested for alleged sodomy and corruption. Anwar says he was victimized because he exposed corruption in Mahathir's administration.
He served four years in jail on the corruption charge and another two years for the sodomy conviction, before it was overturned, allowing his release in September 2004.
Anwar said he was aware of massive corruption even when he was deputy to Mahathir, who retired after 22 years in office and passed the reins to Abdullah.
"But what we are witnessing now is far worse. It (corruption) is tolerated and nobody has responded. It is completely ignored," said Anwar.
The prime minister's office, contacted on Tuesday, refused to respond to Anwar's allegations, which are difficult to corroborate independently in this tightly controlled society.
However, according to the Berlin-based organization, Transparency International, which draws on the 17 surveys for opinions of business people and country analysts, corruption in Malaysia did increase in 2004 compared to 2003.
Anwar said his sources in the government have told him about corruption in land deals, procurement of military equipment, defense contracts, negotiated tenders and negotiated contracts. He did not elaborate.
Asked if corruption is worse than before, Anwar said: "Yes. I know it from the feedback I get from authorities who want to keep me informed."
He said Abdullah was "quite successful in projecting" an image of Mr. Clean, and may not even be personally corrupt. But "I don't think he was extremely careful in terms of involvement of family members and close associates."
"Certainly he is not doing anything to combat this crime. Now that you are in a position to do something nothing is done," he said.
The no-holds-barred attack on Abdullah indicates there may be little truth in dinner talk that his son-in-law and rising political star Khairy Jamaluddin is courting Anwar to bolster the prime minister's weak grass roots support in the ruling United Malays National Organization party.