Already facing sexual assault allegations, Anwar Ibrahim faces another hurdle to becoming Malaysian PM
VIDEO 0:59 Anwar Ibrahim's People's Justice Party saw fights between factions over the weekend. ABC NEWS
Malaysian Government figure Anwar Ibrahim remains determined to become the country's eighth prime minister, despite allegations from a former staffer of sexual assault emerging late last week.
The ruling People's Justice Party (PKR), of which Mr Anwar is leader, held its congress over the weekend just days after Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, 26, accused the veteran politician of attempting to force him into sex.
A former researcher for PKR, Mr Yusoff reportedly told police he feared for his life after the accusations were made public.
Mr Anwar strongly denied the allegations as "baseless slander" and "politics at its worst". His legal team has threatened to take legal action against Mr Yusoff for defamation.
PHOTO Anwar Ibrahim was famously jailed by Mahathir Mohamad on corruption and sodomy charges. REUTERS: LIM HUEY TENG
Senior PKR figures called the allegations into question given they surfaced just before the party's annual conference.
Mr Yusoff's uncle, Mohideen Abdul Kader, also called the accusation into question.
"Coming more than one year after the alleged incident, and two days before the PKR conference, I believe that Yusoff has been manipulated by some politicians to serve their own interest," he said in a statement.
"I thought we had left behind the politics of sodomy with the arrival of [New Malaysia] but, sadly, it keeps cropping up again and again," he said, referring to the period after Malaysia's May 2018 election.
"I am confident that Malaysians will reject such gutter politics", Mr Mohideen said.
Sodomy still illegal in Malaysia
Once deemed "the Nelson Mandela of Malaysia", Mr Anwar was jailed twice on charges of corruption and sodomy, the latter of which remains a crime in Malaysia punishable by up to 20 years in prison under a British colonial-era law.
PHOTO Anwar Ibrahim has dismissed sexual assault allegations as "baseless slander". REUTERS: SAMSUL SAID/FILE
Homosexuality is heavily stigmatised and LGBT Malaysians continue to face
significant discrimination from much of the population, which is more than 60 per cent Muslim.
The previous sodomy charges against Mr Anwar — including when Dr Mahathir was first PM in the 1990s — are thus widely considered to have been politically motivated.
Dr Mahathir has pledged to hand over power to Mr Anwar but has been non-committal about a timeline for succession.
Party plagued by infighting
At the PKR congress over the weekend, the party's youth wing leader Akmal Nasrullah Nasir said he hoped Mr Anwar's transition to becoming PM would "go smoothly".
But PKR deputy leader Azmin Ali —
who himself faced a gay sex scandal earlier this year — is seen as a potential challenger to Mr Anwar.
While Mr Anwar and Mr Azmin's respective factions had come to a truce mid-last week, Mr Azmin led a mass walkout and violent fights broke out between the opposing sides.
In July, Mr Azmin even called for Dr Mahathir to see out his full term as Prime Minister to ensure "stability, continuity and consistency".
Dr Mahathir has since ruled out stepping down in 2020.
"Political pledges have never been set in stone in the Malaysian political context," said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, adding that Dr Mahathir's alliance with Mr Anwar was primarily one of convenience aimed at
toppling the Barisan Nasional coalition — which had ruled Malaysia for six decades.
PHOTO The People's Justice Party is much less unified than when its coalition won the May 2018 election. AP: ANDY WONG
"Now that the job was done, Dr Mahathir reverts to his longstanding distrust of Anwar as somebody [he doubts] would continue with his legacy," he said.
Anwar's succession plans in question
Mr Anwar was
released on a royal pardon just days after the election and re-entered Malaysian parliament in October 2018 after winning a by-election.
But Mr Anwar's path to the premiership has been continually stalled. Many analysts now doubt whether this may ever happen.
"Anwar's chances of becoming PM have already dimmed even without the sexual allegations," said Mr Oh.
"This is because Dr Mahathir is intent upon frustrating Anwar's succession, among other things by promoting Azmin [Ali] and being elusive about the succession issue."
Amrita Malhi, an expert on Malaysian politics from the Australian National University,
said of the scandal concerning PKR deputy Mr Azmin earlier this year that: "Malaysia has shown a rich tradition of such allegations being weaponised in politics, usually supported by visual props like images and videos.
"They tend to take on a moral tone, with the aim of discrediting the person being targeted," she said.
