NO HOPE LEFT FOR MALAYSIA: Umno will backslide with Anwar out of the way -The Economist

KUALA LUMPUR - Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s incarceration is detrimental to Malaysia as a weakened opposition reduces Umno’s motivation to reform, The Economist wrote today.

Calling it a “setback for the whole country”, the London-based business magazine pointed out that the opposition leader’s absence bolster’s the ruling coalition that is already “becoming a mere shell for an Umno ever more beholden to Malay-nationalist forces”.

In Election 2013, Umno reinforced its dominance over Barisan Nasional by winning more seats owing to rural Malay voters even as its partners suffered from reduced support from other ethnic communities.

“Mr Anwar, a political chameleon whose real beliefs are sometimes hard to pin down, has many critics, but he could at least credibly lead a coalition that bridges Malaysia’s ethnic divides.

“That is why his incarceration is a dark day not just for Malaysia’s opposition, but for Mr Najib and the country itself,” it wrote.

The Federal Court on Tuesday upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and maintained the sentence of five years’ imprisonment.

Anwar Ibrahim

Mohd Saiful was not prosecuted despite the decision to charge and convict Anwar under laws criminalising consensual anal sex, fuelling perception that Anwar’s case was politically motivated.

Yesterday, Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail revealed in a statement yesterday that Mohd Saiful was not prosecuted as he was a witness against Anwar whose case Gani likened to corruption.

Aside from the five-year sentence, The Economist noted that Malaysia bans convicts from contesting in elections for a further five years after release, effectively nullifying Anwar for at least the next two general elections.

The magazine also added that the removal of Anwar has eliminated a key distraction for Umno, whose hardliners may now turn their attention inwards at the party’s leadership.

This development could leave Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with “little room to make good his promises of political liberalisation”. - Malay Mail