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As Najib prepares to head home, Anwar revisits memories from behind bars
As the nation turns its attention to Najib Abdul Razak’s move from Kajang Prison to his bungalow on Jalan Langgak Duta to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim offered a glimpse into his own life in prison.
In a Facebook post late last night, Anwar shared a photograph of himself seated behind a glass partition and iron bars, holding a telephone receiver as he spoke to his family on the other side.
“Memories in Sungai Buloh...
As the nation turns its attention to Najib Abdul Razak’s move from Kajang Prison to his bungalow on Jalan Langgak Duta to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim offered a glimpse into his own life in prison.
In a Facebook post late last night, Anwar shared a photograph of himself seated behind a glass partition and iron bars, holding a telephone receiver as he spoke to his family on the other side.
“Memories in Sungai Buloh. Meeting family through the glass, communicating only by phone. A moment that will remain etched in memory,” read the caption with the hashtag #throwback.
Anwar did not say when the photograph was taken.
Still, the image evoked his two stints in prison - experiences that have become intertwined with some of the most turbulent episodes in Malaysia’s political history.
Black eye
The first came after his dramatic fall from power in 1998, when then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad sacked Anwar as deputy prime minister and finance minister amid a bitter political rupture that shook the nation and led to the birth of the reformasi movement.
Police arrested Anwar under the Internal Security Act on Sept 20, 1998, just 18 days after his dismissal.
What followed was one of the most indelible images in Malaysian political history.
/file/publisher-c1a3f893382d2b2f8a9aa22a654d9c97/2025/03/036a3c130b0222e1b26f4ac888719e42.jpg "Anwar Ibrahim black eye incident circa sept 21st 1998 030325")
When Anwar was brought to court after his arrest, he appeared with a dark bruise around his left eye - the now-infamous “black eye” - after he was assaulted while in police custody.
READ MORE: 'I thought I wouldn't survive' - Anwar recalls 'black eye' incident
The incident triggered widespread public outrage and became a defining symbol of the confrontation between Anwar and the establishment. Then inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor later admitted to assaulting Anwar and was subsequently convicted and fined.
Anwar was sentenced in April 1999 to six years in prison for corruption. In August the following year, he received a further nine-year sentence for sodomy.
Anwar maintained that the charges were politically motivated and fabricated by Mahathir and his allies, allegations the authorities at the time rejected.
/file/publisher-c1a3f893382d2b2f8a9aa22a654d9c97/2026/07/add2cbca9c084cfb68e92df31a30f1e7.jpg "Anwar Ibrahim and Mahathir Mohamad old photo drinking tea 100726")
He remained behind bars until September 2004, when the Federal Court overturned his sodomy conviction. Having already served his corruption sentence, the ruling paved the way for his immediate release.
Second sodomy conviction
But prison would become familiar territory once again.
In 2015, Anwar was sent back to jail after being sentenced to five years for a second sodomy conviction, this time while Najib was prime minister.
Anwar again maintained that the prosecution was the product of a political conspiracy, while the government and prosecution denied the allegation.
His second imprisonment lasted until May 16, 2018.
That release came under circumstances that would have seemed almost unimaginable two decades earlier.
Just days after Pakatan Harapan defeated Najib in the 14th general election, Anwar received a full royal pardon and walked free.
But perhaps the most remarkable twist was that it happened when Mahathir returned as prime minister for a second time at the age of 92, leading the opposition coalition to its historic electoral victory.
Najib’s RM50 million condition
Meanwhile, Najib’s house arrest hinges on whether he can settle the RM50 million fine, which is part of the conditional pardon.
/file/attachments/orphans/najib23121_480507.png "Former PM Najib Razak smiling photo 182926 EDITED AND REUPLOADED")
Najib began serving a 12-year prison term in 2022 after being convicted in his SRC International corruption case. In 2024, the Pardons Board halved his sentence and reduced the RM210 million fine to RM50 million.
In December last year, Najib was convicted of corruption for a second time and sentenced to 15 years in jail over the 1MDB case, together with an RM11.38 billion fine, which he will serve after completing his SRC sentence.
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Many confuse the constitutional ideal framed by the Reid Commission—disputed even at its birth—with the pragmatic compromises required to maintain stable government. Malaysia did not begin with a perfect system from which it later strayed. Its history has been a continuing struggle to define, approach and sometimes revise the ideal of what good government should be. Anwar’s imprisonment and Najib’s incarceration are therefore not mirror images, nor should either become the entire national story. They are two among many episodes in Malaysia’s unfinished journey towards constitutional government, accountable power and equal justice. The important question is not merely who went to prison or who returns home, but whether the institutions emerging from these episodes are stronger, fairer and less vulnerable to political influence.
The PM is simply trying to win sympathy for Najib based on his own experiences. Don’t be fooled. Sympathy should not be a reason why a PM allows for an illegal house arrest, “illegal” because it is not provided for under the law. Why was a PM unable to stop a decision that the govt can’t enforce legally? And why are political parties supporting such a PM?
Governance is inherently an act of compromise. If not, how to?Today someone gets house arrest, in the future another might get it to. A precedence has been set. One day someone gets a full pardon, why not another someone gets another freebie or house arrest.
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