Winds of change in Malaysia

Winds of change in Malaysia

Maxine Hon
Jakarta

Six years ago this month, Malaysia was plunged into its
greatest political and social upheaval since the riots of the
late 1960s. Now, that saga's closing chapter has apparently been
written.

Whether by intent or serendipity, Malaysian authorities
released from prison former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
exactly six years to the day he was sacked from the Cabinet,
giving an almost poetic end to one of the most engrossing dramas
in recent Malaysian history.

And what a drama it has been. At the height of the Asian
financial crisis in the late 1990s, Malaysia found itself in the
midst of a political crisis somewhat similar to the one taking
place then in neighboring Indonesia. Indeed, the events unfolding
in Indonesia leading to the downfall of Soeharto were the main
inspiration for the Malaysian reformasi movement.

But the course of history then diverged widely in the two
countries. Instead of biting the dust, Malaysia's strongman
Mahathir went on to crush his opponents, put them in jail and
lead the country for another five years -- all against the
background of conspiracy theories, sodomy trials, DNA tests on
mattresses, police-inflicted black eyes and other shenanigans
that made Malaysians take to the streets in unprecedented
protests and also earned the country instant notoriety around the
world.

Yet in less than a week, Anwar's sodomy conviction has been
overturned and judges are even now considering his appeal against
his conviction for corruption. Should they also overturn that
conviction, nothing will stand in the way of Anwar's return to
politics.

Will he or will he not go back to politics -- that is the
inevitable hot topic of the moment. But really, the more
important question may be, what does this last week mean for
Malaysia?

If there is one thing the recent events have proved, it is
that Malaysia is definitely changing -- and it would seem for the
better. The attention may currently be focused on Anwar, but when
the dust settles it will reveal a Malaysia that is evolving in
very interesting directions.

Most of this new momentum for change must be credited to
incumbent Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. Many observers had
initially written off the soft-spoken and gentlemanly Pak Lah as
"weak" or merely a puppet of Mahathir. But in the year since he
took over from the longest-serving leader in Southeast Asia, Pak
Lah has asserted himself quietly, but confidently, and has shown
that he is more than capable of living up to the task. In this,
he has been helped by a strong mandate, buoyed by a landslide
victory in the general elections in March and an easy win in a
recent by-election in opposition heartland.

Pak Lah campaigned on a promise to root out corruption, and
while there have been complaints that this promise has yet to be
fully fulfilled, there has also been some nascent evidence of
reform. Without shouting out slogans against Corruption,
Collusion and Nepotism from the tops of mosques and the streets
of KL, the new administration has moved to tackle corruption in
some very tangible ways, including trying for corruption a high-
profile businessman who had remained untouchable previously.

The release of Anwar Ibrahim will serve to ring the changes
even more firmly and remind people that Pak Lah's style of
government is very different from the previous administration:
Notwithstanding his great vision for Malaysia and his ability to
pull off numerous hat tricks in the face of intense criticism and
derision, there can be no doubt that Mahathir was an
authoritarian figure who had no qualms about emasculating the
judiciary and ruthlessly quashing the inconvenient opposition.

What with going after the big cronies of the old days,
allowing the judiciary to once again function independently of
the government, and releasing the "public enemy number one" of
the last administration, Pak Lah is now effectively distancing
himself from that legacy.

It appears that Pak Lah's arrival on the scene will help
correct some of the excesses and imbalances of the past and even
make some reformist headway into the future. A "kinder, gentler
Malaysia" may be in the making. In pushing such an agenda, Pak
Lah may well rob Anwar of his most valuable political ammunition
-- that of being able to cast himself in the role as the only
reformist hope for Malaysia.

As we have seen in the last few days, Anwar is still able to
draw out thousands of well-wishers and supporters and command
international media attention. But whether this goodwill
automatically translates into votes at the ballot boxes remains
to be seen -- his own party has not done particularly well in the
last few years. If the government continues on its current course
of gradual but tangible change, this will probably go down very
well with Malaysia's largely middle-class population.

With the economy booming once again, people are even more
unlikely to want to rock the boat. Pak Lah may thus have found a
winning formula here -- after all, Malaysia has never really
shown much penchant for violent change and upheaval.

Amidst the new political realities in Malaysia, Anwar may well
have to go back to the drawing board to see how he fits in, if he
is seriously contemplating a return to the political fray.

The writer is a Malaysian freelance journalist.