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BLAST FROM THE PAST

FOCUS: Anwar's shadow traps Keadilan

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 Kyodo

The political party of former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is to hold a four-day meeting from Thursday against the backdrop of trying to exorcise the ghosts of his past political ties with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Despite successfully weathering the past 14 months, including surviving the November general elections, the National Justice Party (Keadilan) is to begin its first annual meeting burdened with serious internal crises.

Keadilan's internal crises reflect attempts to deflect the personality cult being built around Anwar, political observers said. Keadilan has the image of a fly-by-night party that would falter if Anwar's personal appeal wanes.

The party is headed by Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, a soft-spoken ophthalmologist.

"Those in Keadilan who want the party to survive because of its ideals are increasingly disturbed that Anwar is the center of attention, the 'poster boy' for liberal democracy and civil liberties," political commentator Chairil Anwar said.

"They have now suddenly remembered that Anwar was not entirely virtuous during his meteoric rise in UMNO (United Malays National Organization headed by Mahathir)," Chairil said.

The internal crisis became full-blown recently when several pro-Anwar Internet Websites -- that have been Keadilan's most effective tool in propagating its agenda amid a stifled mainstream media -- began to turn the tables on their own leaders.

Party Deputy President Chandra Muzaffar and Secretary General Mohamed Anuar Tahir have been asked to resign for being "traitors" to the Anwar-initiated "reformasi" movement and for going against Anwar's orders.

Chandra, the Webmasters claimed, had once said during a party meeting, "Anwar is in jail. What does he know?...We don't have to be so devoted to Anwar because when Anwar was in UMNO, he too abused power."

Anwar is serving a six-year jail term for corruption. Another trial on sodomy charges is ongoing.

Once a Mahathir protege, Anwar was booted out in September 1998 on grounds of "immorality." Anwar insists the charges were trumped up to prevent him from challenging Mahathir's 19 years in power.

He was then also the deputy president of UMNO, the dominant party in the 14-party National Front coalition.

Political analyst Farish A. Noor of the University of Malaya blamed the internal crisis for Keadilan on former UMNO members in the party who still want to maintain the UMNO patronage system.

It is hard to remove the personality cult in Keadilan because many of its members are former UMNO members and they have brought with them the feudalistic culture of UMNO politics, Farish said.

Farish said Chandra, a well-respected academic, merely wanted Keadilan "to offer the Malaysian public something more than another version of UMNO or PAS."

PAS is the Islamic Party of Malaysia, the dominant party in the four-party opposition Alternative Front that includes Keadilan.

"Keadilan has tried to inject the Malaysian political arena with a new set of concerns and a new form of politics that is not based on the categories of race and ethnicity," Farish said.

But Keadilan has achieved only limited success so far, partly because of Azizah's weak leadership, he said.

"She commands sympathy but is still not seen as dynamic or aggressive enough to be regarded as serious politician," he said.

With Anwar behind bars and contact with him severely restricted, the inexperienced Wan Azizah carries a heavy burden of pulling the party together in the face of daunting opposition from the government and bigger opposition parties such as PAS.

Although both PAS and Keadilan are partners in the opposition coalition, PAS remains wary of Keadilan due to a bitter experience with another UMNO splinter group, Semangat 46.

The alliance of PAS with Semangat 46 ended when the latter disbanded and its members went back to UMNO in 1996, carrying PAS party secrets.

The irony is that PAS has benefited more from Anwar's plight than Keadilan. This can be seen from the general elections where PAS was able to increase its seats in the parliament by almost 300%, from 7 to 27, by exploiting Anwar's issues. Keadilan only got five seats.

As the party ponders its future, one solution at hand was a proposed merger with another coalition partner, the socialist-leaning People's Party of Malaysia (PRM).

Like Keadilan, PRM is a multi-ethnic party but after 45 years, it has fallen prey to changes in ideological outlook. The four-day annual meeting is expected to discuss merger.

Meantime, as Mahathir tries desperately to erase Anwar from the country's collective memory, Wan Azizah must tread cautiously between appeasing the Webmasters, the party's staunchest supporters who want to preserve Anwar's legacy at all costs, and those who believe in political ideals beyond Anwar's personality.