Anwar Party Struggles to Hold Ground

By Sean Yoong
Associated Press Writer
Friday, November 9, 2001; 5:33 AM

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia –– Wracked by the loss of key officials and a coalition bust-up, the Malaysian opposition party led by ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's wife began debating its political survival Friday and electing new leaders for the first time.

More than 1,200 officials of the National Justice Party gathered under a blizzard of local scrutiny for the start of a three-day general assembly in remote Kemaman town, 150 miles east of Kuala Lumpur.

"All this attention proves that we have made our mark in this country's political scene," party president Azizah Ismail, Anwar's wife for 21 years, told The Associated Press in an interview. "Our party is part of the whole political equation now."

But much has changed since Azizah launched the party in December 1998, three months after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fired Anwar amid disagreements over how to deal with the Asian financial crisis.

The tens of thousands of Anwar supporters who stormed the streets demanding Mahathir's resignation disappeared as Malaysia's economy recovered. The Justice Party, which hoped to end Mahathir's two-decade rule at a 1999 election, won just five of 59 parliamentary seats it contested.

Anwar, once seen as Mahathir's certain successor, is now serving prison terms totaling 15 years on corruption and sodomy convictions. Mahathir, Asia's longest-serving ruler, rejects Anwar's claims that the charges were fabricated to stem Anwar's political ascent.

Anwar is the official adviser and figurehead for the Justice Party, which claims nearly 300,000 members, mostly ethnic Malay Muslims, the country's majority population. But the membership figure is a fraction of the 2.9 million-plus people registered with Mahathir's ruling United Malays National Organization.

Noticeably absent at Friday's assembly were the party's vice president, two top youth leaders, and a member of its decision-making council. They were arrested in April under a security law that allows for imprisonment without trial and are serving a two-year detention order.

Police have accused the four men of conspiring to stage violent protests to topple Mahathir's government. The Justice Party says the allegations are an attempt to discredit the group.

"There's been a lot of tension over the detentions," said Irene Fernandez, a member of the Justice Party's policy-setting body. "Our members feel the party has taken a beating, and there is an element of fear about how to forge ahead and who will take us forward."

Many also worry that the party's relevance is fading; that its views are eclipsed by the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, the country's largest opposition group and the Justice Party's ally in a three-member coalition.

The opposition coalition is also weakening. It comprised four parties until recently, when the Democratic Action Party, a predominantly ethnic Chinese group, walked out after a long dispute over the Islamic party's plan to impose an Islamic state.

Making matters worse, the Justice Party lost its intellectual heavyweight when Chandra Muzaffar, Azizah's influential deputy and a former university lecturer, recently announced he was stepping down to focus on international activism. Other prominent officials are also resigning.