Malaysia's Anwar heads for court, again

By David Chance - Analysis

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim faces another grueling trial for sodomy starting on Wednesday that could break his career and which also risks deepening political divisions in this Southeast Asian nation.

In 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis, Anwar, then deputy prime minister and heir apparent to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, was accused of sodomy and corruption, sacked, tried and eventually sentenced to a total of 14 years in jail.

Today, the world is mired in an economic crisis. Malaysia is burdened with its biggest budget deficit in 22 years, its first major recession since 1998 and a government that has still not come to terms with big losses in the 2008 general election.

Anwar insists the trial is politically motivated and told Reuters he would not roll over.

It comes at a crucial time for Malaysia as new Prime Minister Najib Razak, branded a hard-liner by the opposition, attempts to introduce reforms in this developing country of 27 million people whose export-driven growth model has run out of gas.

"The trial will be bad for Malaysia and seriously discredit Najib," said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert at Johns Hopkins University.

"He will be compared to Mahathir and be seen as a weaker version of an autocrat for having to resort to this sort of measure early on to weaken a challenger."

Anwar's marathon trials in the late 1990s lasted 14 months and saw witnesses change testimony, contradictory medical evidence and bizarre scenes, including a semen-stained mattress paraded in court and a witch doctor casting spells outside.

The new trial is scheduled to start on July 8.

Conviction or a trial that exposes the weaknesses of Malaysia's judiciary to international scrutiny once more, may put Malaysia in a harsh light.

"One thing must be made clear, it is my opinion that what we are doing to Anwar Ibrahim is starkly similar to what is happening to (Myanmar's) Aung San Suu Kyi," Malaysia's former Bar Council Chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan said in a recent lecture.

"I ask, show me the difference between the two. I ask, how can we condemn the latter and do the former."

It is not just criminal courts that are under scrutiny, rule of law is a key concern for many investors. According to a World Bank survey, Malaysia ranks 63rd of 178 economies in enforcing contracts, a great deal lower than its 24th rank overall.

NEW POLITICAL MAP

The National Front coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years since independence from Britain lost its iron-clad two thirds majority in parliament in the 2008 elections and saw the opposition end up in control of five states.