KUALA LUMPUR - A string of dropped corruption cases in Malaysia has raised questions over Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's commitment to fighting graft, with lawmakers and analysts warning it could risk alienating voters, deepen divisions within the ruling coalition, and jeopardise his reform agenda. With his 'reformasi' rallying cry, Anwar campaigned as an anti-corruption advocate for over two decades as...
KUALA LUMPUR - A string of dropped corruption cases in Malaysia has raised questions over Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's commitment to fighting graft, with lawmakers and analysts warning it could risk alienating voters, deepen divisions within the ruling coalition, and jeopardise his reform agenda.
But Anwar now faces accusations, including from his own party, of betraying progressive voters and allies, after state prosecutors this month dropped 47 charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and failed to appeal against the acquittal of former premier Najib Razak in a 1MDB-linked case.
"Anwar is concerned more about the survival of his government and his power rather than the reform agenda that he had promised to the people," he told Reuters.Ahmad Zahid and Najib, who is serving a 12-year jail sentence on separate 1MDB charges, are both from the once-dominant United Malays National Organisation that Anwar has long campaigned against.
Youth party MUDA pulled support for Anwar's coalition over the graft case, with its sole lawmaker Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman saying that dropping the case against Ahmad Zahid was crossing a "red line." The dropping of the cases comes amid worries over a roll-back in democratic freedoms after Anwar's government blocked several news portals, opened sedition and graft probes against opposition figures, and increased scrutiny of the country's LGBTQ+ community.
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