She is an uncertain wisp of a leader to put before a nation in turmoil. But Anwar’s wife, an ophthalmologist and mother of six, has become Malaysia’s avenging angel of political change. And change may be coming faster than anybody expected. After the judge sent Anwar to prison, thousands of protesters took to the streets in the most violent demonstrations Malaysia has seen in 30 years. They blamed not so much the judge but their country’s top man–Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad–for bringing down his former friend, protege and designated successor in a power struggle. As rocks flew and tear gas drifted through the streets of his capital, Mahathir rested in seclusion , recovering from what his doctors said was a lung infection. That weakness was enough to spark rumors that the leader who has dominated Malaysian politics for 18 years may be seriously ill.
With the king in his sickbed and the prince in prison, the burden now falls to Azizah. Her husband’s trial has changed Malaysia forever, awakening new demands for transparency, justice and fair play. But is Azizah strong enough to harness a disparate opposition movement and build a new, more just post-Mahathir Malaysia? Even her supporters worry that it will be difficult to hold off Islamic fundamentalists who are eager to use her–and it will be just as hard to keep the movement alive when the anger of the day fades away. She sees herself not as an angel, Azizah told NEWSWEEK, but as a mother to her young supporters and as a figure “almost like Mother Teresa. I’d like to appeal to the goodness of men and women.”
Anwar’s guilty verdict concluded a six-month trial that has been Malaysia’s twisted answer to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The case riveted the nation with lurid testimony and dramatic reversals–only serving to heighten many Malaysians’ perception that the justice system is biased. From the start, the case seemed political: Mahathir sacked Anwar last September amid charges of alleged homosexual activity, which is illegal in Malaysia–shortly after Anwar had started openly challenging his rule. Anwar’s dismissal sparked a groundswell of opposition to Mahathir and to what Anwar’s supporters saw as the government’s “corruption, collusion and nepotism.” Many Malaysians were even more outraged when Anwar was arrested, then beaten by the inspector-general of Malaysia’s police.
Thanks to clever maneuvering by the prosecution, Anwar has not yet been tried for sexual-misconduct charges that Mahathir himself had publicized. Instead, the ousted deputy prime minister faced charges of obstruction of justice and abuse of power; specifically, the government accused Anwar of asking police to force his accusers to retract allegations of illicit sexual affairs. Nonetheless, in court, Anwar’s driver claimed that he was Anwar’s “homosexual slave,” and the sister-in-law of Anwar’s personal secretary said Anwar had an affair with his secretary’s wife. Anwar denied it all.
During his trial, the most theatrical moment came when the prosecution lugged a mattress into the courtroom, with holes where Anwar’s supposed semen stains had been carved out for testing. Then, after dragging Anwar’s reputation through the mud, the prosecution amended the wording of the charges, making it no longer necessary for them to prove sexual misconduct. Anwar’s defense lawyers were barred from refuting the earlier lurid testimony. Anwar still could face the sexual charges later.
Last week’s guilty verdict came as no surprise. In the courtroom, Anwar’s family sat tensely waiting as the judge and the defense lawyers argued over a last-minute attempt to have the case dismissed. When the judge finally handed down the six-year sentence–less than the 14-year maximum but longer than expected–the court fell into shocked silence. “Oh, my God,” said one relative. Anwar’s wife, daughters and sisters-in-law burst into tears. Anwar motioned to his family to be calm. Then he jumped to his feet and demanded the right to speak. Reluctantly, the judge gave him five minutes–then interrupted him more than a dozen times. “[This is] part of a political conspiracy to destroy me,” Anwar blurted out, clutching a wooden railing. The judgment, he said, “stinks to high heaven.”
Outrage over the sentence quickly spilled into the streets. While rabble-rousing students threw rocks and set garbage pails on fire during the daytime protests, outside the nighttime rally, families of middle-class Malays, some with small children riding on their shoulders, walked for miles to attend the crowded, hot event.
Mahathir, who has spearheaded his nation’s plunge into the computer age with a huge “multimedia super corridor, " should be proud of this younger generation. Students follow the opposition movement and pick up antigovernment rumors and information on the many Web sites that techno-wizards in the opposition have set up on the Internet. At demonstrations, protesters videotape the events so they can post the footage on the Web.
Mahathir’s own race-based politics have calmed anger toward the Chinese but planted the seeds of opposition. Over the years, he rationalized tight controls by reminding people that political chaos could lead to race riots between Malays and Chinese, like those that rocked Malaysia in 1969. An aggressive affirmative-action policy, which granted loans and preferential treatment in business and in schools to the impoverished Malays, aimed to build support among the majority even if it was unfair to the Chinese and Indians.
Today, people are fed up with the political controls and the cronyism that Mahathir’s policies encouraged. They enriched a handful of Malays with connections to the ruling camp–but angered many ordinary Malays who, relatively speaking, were left behind. Those on the bottom saw the government–not the Chinese–as their enemies. The Malays who made it rich had even less cause to stir up racial tensions. “As long as a Malay owns part of that bank over there,” says Tan Seng Giaw, a leader of the Chinese opposition party, “he’s not going to want to cause destruction out on the street.” As a result, Mahathir’s Malaysia has escaped the kind of racial violence that has paralyzed Indonesia. The divisions now cut along economic rather than racial lines.
Azizah hopes to build on the relative harmony and transform Malaysia’s racial politics into a modern system in which, she says, issues–clean government, democracy, rule of law–would matter more than ethnicity and political connections. Despite Anwar’s background as an Islamic activist, he has reached out to the Chinese community. He promoted the idea that tolerance and democracy are inherent to Asian thinking.
The Chinese opposition party, called the DAP, in the past would never have cooperated with Islamists. It is now supporting Anwar and Azizah. A coalition of nongovernment organizations, which normally would eschew politics, is also backing them. “When you look at the areas of commonality, it’s just amazing,” says Chandra Muzaffar, a well-known promoter of multicultural dialogue who is deputy chairman of Azizah’s party. “We have stood on the platform together,” Azizah told NEWSWEEK. “At least we are not talking about differences anymore.”
To many Chinese and secular Malays, the biggest fear is that Anwar’s movement will be co-opted by Islamic forces. Most of Azizah’s supporters are Malays, and some Muslim constituents think they can push her around. Last week’s late-night rally was held at the headquarters of the Islamic opposition party, called Pas, which is eagerly embracing Azizah and her new multiracial National Justice Party, Keadilan. Pas has 700,000 members, and Azizah’s new party so far has only 12,000. In other words, Pas could shove Azizah’s new party aside if the opposition ever came to power. “She’s nothing without us,” said one smiling Pas member at the rally. Still, Pas hopes to establish an Islamic state, and its leaders know that Azizah can bring in votes.
As Mahathir and the opposition struggle over Malaysia’s future, the Chinese, who account for some 30 percent of the population, will hold considerable clout in the upcoming elections. Traditionally, the Chinese have clung to Mahathir’s ruling party, called the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), as the lesser of two evils. Mahathir’s affirmative-action program penalized the Chinese politically, but it did allow them the means to survive–and even flourish–economically. And Mahathir, who is an avowed secularist, protected them from the Islamic fundamentalists they fear most. Even today, many Chinese Malaysians want nothing to do with politics.
Azizah hopes she can convince Chinese Malaysians that the issues she cares about should matter to them, too. She is already trying to win over the Chinese, who fear the post-Mahathir era will be dominated by Islam. “We must go and tell them,” says one of Azizah’s advisers, a Chinese Christian, “that we are neither the corrupt rulers nor the Islamists. We represent the middle ground. Naturally they should come to us.”
With its most charismatic leader locked up for years to come, the opposition movement has to grow up politically–and fast. Mahathir must call general elections before the end of next year, and rumors are flying that he may want to take advantage of an economic uptick to call elections soon. The odds are against Azizah. Mahathir’s party has cultivated a powerful system of political patronage across the country, and those loyalties will be hard to break.
Azizah’s new party must build up its machinery in the provinces, attract donations, choose candidates and develop a campaign strategy. Already, according to one Anwar aide, pro-government banks are calling in the loans of businessmen who have expressed interest in the opposition, attempting to scare people away from providing financial support. “They will use all sorts of dirty tricks,” Azizah says.
Anwar’s supporters say he isn’t through yet. They predict that if Mahathir passes from the scene, his successor, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, a drab politician, will have trouble holding together his coalition. In any case, Anwar’s supporters point out that if the ousted deputy serves his entire term until 2005, then waits out an additional five-year ban on entering politics, he will be only 63 by the time he is allowed to campaign again–still 10 years younger than Mahathir today. “We are not worried,” says a close aide. “There is plenty to keep this movement alive. Anwar will be prime minister.” Anwar’s lawyers are filing an appeal of his conviction. And in theory, he could get out of prison tomorrow if the government decided it was convenient: the Malaysian king, who is a figurehead, could pardon the VIP prisoner.
If Mahathir’s new designated successor seems weak, Anwar’s wife, too, was in the background until recently. Azizah could never have known when she married Anwar 19 years ago that one day she would be leading a national political movement. Anwar left his political fights at the office. He shared his dreams and strategies with advisers, not his wife. Her composure, given her total lack of experience, is remarkable. Yet Azizah has had some trouble finding her political balance. Bowing to pressure from hard-line Islamists, she wears elastic armbands that keep her forearms totally covered–exactly the kind of signal that scares Chinese Malaysians and secular Malays as well. Seemingly uncomfortable with the bigger political issues, Azizah tends to stick to relatively narrow attacks on the government for its unjust treatment of her husband.
But as a symbol of the fight for a new Malaysia, Azizah’s angelic demeanor is powerful. Malaysians know their country will never be the same. Running alongside protesters after Anwar’s verdict, Mahzan Musa, a psychologist, was filming frantically. “It’s history in the making, you know,” he said. “I’m preserving it while I can.” As some young Malaysians were throwing rocks last week, others were painting political slogans and laying campaign plans. They were learning how to run their country with the ideals that Azizah and her jailed husband have espoused.
Azizah may stumble as she finds her political way, and passions may well subside as the economy improves. But a new generation, a new Malaysia, has been born. Mahathir’s forces clamped down hard on Saturday, hauling off student protesters at the mosque and spraying bystanders with water cannons. More than 1,000 students, undeterred, marched and chanted anyway. “We’re going to struggle until our last breath,” said one law student, as she ran from the police. Azizah, too, once cowed by Malaysia’s old-style politics, is no longer afraid. “This is my chance, and I’m taking it,” she says. Change is in the air, and as her country stands at the crossroads, this may be Malaysia’s chance, too.
