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.