Some London-based Malaysians have started an online campaign to lobby British MPs into exerting pressure on Putrajaya to drop all charges against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The aim is to get the parliamentarians to sign the ‘Early Day Motion 1092' to prevent the Malaysian government from decapitating the opposition coalition with the sodomy charges against Anwar.   

An Early Day Motion is a petition signed by members of parliament to demonstrate their support. When Nelson Mandela was incarcerated in apartheid South Africa, an Early Day Motion helped exert international pressure for his release.

anwar ibrahim drums support from london 210310 01 Labour parliamentarian for Islington Green, Jeremy Corbyn ( right in photo ), is the main proponent for the motion on Anwar.

 

Just like a bad sequel to a political horror movie, the trial against Anwar has been mocked as ‘Sodomy II’ in Malaysia.

The trial is political déjà vu for many as it closely resembles the one he faced in 1998 in which the conduct of the judiciary was condemned by Malaysians as well as the international community.

Considered a threat

“Anwar is seen as too much of a threat because he is able to stitch many different constituencies into an inter-ethnic opposition alliance for the first time in Malaysia’s political history,” said Lee Jones, a lecturer in international relations at University of London.

Back in March 2008, after the watershed general elections where the opposition coalition levelled serious losses against the ruling Barisan Nasional, Anwar announced that the opposition would take over the government by Sept 16 that year.

But by June 29, Anwar was charged with sodomy, his second of such charges in 10 years.

Amnesty International and prominent leaders from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association as well as 59 elected representatives of Australia have shown interest in his trial.

“Ultimately, the fate of Malaysian politics will be determined by the people themselves, not by external groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch despite their good intentions,” said Jones.

Still he stressed that international pressures can help.

“Umno is trying to convince Malaysians and the international community that it is a reformed institution committed to good governance, and in that context, overseas criticism matters.”

However, he is cautious about being over optimistic as “Anwar is the figurehead of the opposition coalition that inflicted serious losses against the government in the last elections, and since the situation could be make or break in the next polls, Umno may not cave in on the issue.”

    

Opposition alliance will hold

Jones was in Malaysia in 2008, and according to him the opposition was more surprised than Umno by the election results.

 

In response to the tensions within the opposition coalition, Jones expressed confidence that the “overarching alliance” is unlikely to break down; despite its new inter-ethnic platform being “shaky and fractured”, the socio-economic grievances that underpin the support for Pakatan Rakyat remain.

A significant part of the Malay population is disaffected, and for the first time, the inter-ethnic opposition alliance includes Malays, he noted.

Anwar visited London last week and over two evenings , he gave talks at the London School of Economics and the University of Westminster to packed lecture halls.

At one of the talks, a member of the audience questioned if the shattered public confidence in the judiciary process could be restored.

Anwar’s answer was curt. “Of course it will, when Pakatan takes over.”