The Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim) hopes that the recent freeing of Anwar Ibrahim will accelerate efforts to unite the Malays in particular, and Malaysians in general.

"Abim views the freeing of Anwar as opening the door to peace between all parties ... let's heal old wounds and forget what has happened for the sake of a better future," said its president, Ahmad Azam Abdul Rahman.

"This is an opportunity to begin afresh efforts towards unity and to look towards the future ... (there is) no point in digging up past incidents ...," he said when contacted by malaysiakini today.

Anwar is the founder of Abim and was the organisation's president before he stepped down in 1981 to take up the invitation from Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister at that time, to join Umno.

In 1982, Anwar was picked as head of Umno Youth after defeating the incumbent chief, Suhaimi Kamaruddin.

After winning the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, Anwar was appointed a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department and subsequently rose up to the position of deputy prime minister, after serving stints as minister in the youth and sports, agriculture, education and finance ministries.

New leaders

However, he was sacked from the government, as well as Umno, in 1998 after allegations were made against him for sodomising his wife's driver, Azizan Abu Bakar.

On Sept 2, the Federal Court allowed Anwar's appeal and freed him. Tomorrow, the same court is due to make a decision regarding Anwar's application to review the judgment for the corruption conviction against him.

According to Ahmad Azam, the freeing of Anwar was due to the leadership of the nation's dominant political parties undergoing changes.

"Now, Umno is led by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Lim Guan Eng is leading DAP while Abdul Hadi Awang heads PAS.

"As such, Abim views this as the opening up of a new opportunity for all parties to find a new formula to bring about a united Malaysian race and nation ... we think discussions about Anwar should also be seen in the context of strengthening the nation," he said.

Fresh formula

As for Abim, he added, the movement's agenda had been clear all along. "It considers that Malaysia unity depends on the unity of the Malays, the majority race in the country.

"And because of that, a united Malaysian race and nation are linked to the unity of the Malays."

According to Ahamd Azam, any split amongst the Malays would have an impact on national politics.

"For the sake of Malay unity and that of the nation, Abim had proposed having a 'Debat Perdana' (grand debate) in 2001 between Mahathir, the prime minister at that time, and the late PAS president Fadzil Noor. Abim will continue to play such roles," he said.

The debate, which had been aired live, was jointly organised by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and Abim, with Mahathir and Fadzil speaking on issues affecting the Palestinians.

When asked whether Abim will take the initiative again to organise a similar debate between Anwar and Umno leaders, he replied, "Any organisation can organise that, not just Abim."