Anwar Ibrahim named 10th prime minister of Malaysia
Veteran Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim has been named the new prime minister of the country. With this, Ibrahim marked a spectacular comeback 25 years after his first shot for the top office in the 1990s, after which he was sacked and jailed. On Thursday, Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah announced Ibrahim would be officially sworn in as the 10th prime minister.
Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's 10th PM
The king's announcement also put a temporary stop to the chaotic polling drive that saw former PM Mahathir Mohamad's collapse and endless infighting among supposed allies. "After taking into...consideration the views of Their Royal Highnesses the Malay Rulers, His Majesty has given consent to appoint Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia," BBC quoted an official release from the palace as saying.
Ibrahim's Pakatan Harapan bagged 82 seats
Ibrahim's Pakatan Harapan (PH) reformist coalition secured 82 seats in last week's polls. However, no coalition or party could garner the required 112-seat parliamentary majority required to form the government. The PH and rival Perikatan Nasional (PN) couldn't find a breakthrough, so the king met Ibrahim, ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin of the PN, and newly-elected parliament members to discuss who should lead the new government.
Who is Anwar Ibrahim?
Ibrahim founded Malaysia's Reformasi political movement in 1998, which has been working for equality and social justice. The 75-year-old is also known for being a supporter of Muslim democracy and an admirer of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is viewed as a moderate democrat. In Muslim-majority Malaysia, Islam is the state religion. Notably, it has major security and economic links with the US.
Ibrahim's toxy turvy political career
Ibrahim has been denied the premiership for decades, despite getting really close to it in the past years. During the 1990s, he served as the deputy prime minister and was the official PM-in-waiting in 2018. However, Ibrahim was arrested twice (in 1998 and 2015) and spent almost 10 years behind bars for corruption and sodomy in what he claims were politically motivated charges.
Ibrahim's rise to fame
Ibrahim kickstarted his political career as a student activist, establishing the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia in 1971 and later heading protests against socioeconomic causes and rural poverty. Notably, he caught the eye of then-Prime Minister Mohamad, who convinced Ibrahim to switch to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which had governed Malaysia since its independence in 1957.
