Malaysia's Anwar self-styled transformational leader

By Bill Tarrant

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's foremost opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who faces sodomy charges as he tries to maneuvers back into power, has long been a force in the country's politics as a self-styled transformational leader.

Anwar, 60, has been taking refuge in the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur since early on Sunday, saying his life was threatened after police began investigating allegations he sodomised a young aide, an abhorrent crime in predominantly Muslim Malaysia.

The charges are a replay of a sex scandal 10 years ago that landed Anwar behind bars after he whipped up a people power street protest aimed at bringing down the government of long-time premier Mahathir Mohamad during the Asian financial crisis.

Malaysia today has some echoes of that crisis.

Political tensions have been growing since elections on March 8 dealt Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's National Front coalition the worst electoral drubbing in Malaysian history.

That, combined with discontent over rising food and fuel prices, has cast a pall of uncertainty over the multi-ethinic nation of 26 million people.

Anwar, the father of six children, said in a statement the charges were "completely fabricated" and politically motivated.

"I have been told that my assassination has not been ruled out as a means to subvert the people's will and bring an end to the transformational changes taking place in Malaysia," he added in the statement.

Abdullah said on Sunday the government was not involved in the charges.

FIREBRAND YOUTH LEADER

Born on August 10, 1947, Anwar went to the Malay College in the northern town of Kuala Kangsar, one of Malaysia's top schools, and made his name as a firebrand Islamic youth leader.

He was jailed for 20 months beginning in 1974 under Malaysia's sweeping Internal Security Act for leading anti-government demonstrations against impoverished conditions in the north.

Mahathir invited him to join UMNO in 1982 to bridge the gap between the party's Malay nationalist image and its rising Islamic aspirations.

Under Mahathir's charge, Anwar's rise was meteoric. He held a string of senior cabinet posts, including the ministries of agriculture and education, and had been finance minister since 1991 before being sacked.

He was widely viewed as Mahathir's heir apparent, a notion the prime minister did not discourage.