One of the husband and wife became prime minister, and the other was a former vice prime minister, which is rare in the world.
Author: Chen Jiali Tian Liang
Malaysia has a new prime minister.
On the afternoon of November 24, Anwar was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur. This is the fourth time since 2018 that the country has changed its prime minister.
Chinese are not familiar with Anwar, but in Malaysia, he is a household name. Locals once said that he was a symbolic figure who had gone through too many storms and had too many labels.
Today, at the age of 75, he is making a comeback.
"Accompanying the run" came to power at the end of 24 years
This time as prime minister, Anwar can be regarded as an explanation for his more than 20 years of political "companion" career. During this period, he approached the position of prime minister several times, and failed several times.
This ups and downs seem to have been planted during Anwar's student days.
While studying at the University of Malaya, Malaysia's oldest institution of higher learning, Anwar was one of Malaysia's leading student leaders. He founded the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement, which he chaired, and was once detained for his involvement in radical social movements.
Anwar in his youth.
When Mahathir became prime minister in 1981, he fell in love with this appealing young man and recruited him into the ruling UMNO.
Anwar lived up to expectations and quickly became a sought-after political star in the party, serving as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Minister of Sports, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Education.
In 1991, Anwar became finance minister, and two years later, he also served as Malaysia's deputy prime minister, becoming the party's second-in-command.
As Finance Minister, Anwar put Malaysia's economy on a fast track. In 1996, the British financial magazine Euromoney listed him as one of the four most influential finance ministers in the world that year. Asiamoney, an authoritative international financial magazine, called him "the best finance minister". In 1998, Newsweek, an American current affairs magazine, also gave him the title of "Asian Person of the Year".
Anwar, who was in the limelight for a while, is considered the successor of then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and is only one step away from ascending to the prime minister's throne.
Anwar and Mahathir in the early years (right).
However, things are impermanent. In 1998, with an arrest warrant and verdict issued, Anwar went from a political star to a prisoner overnight on corruption and other charges.
Anwar in prison did not give up his political ideals and was always looking forward to a comeback. In 2004, he successfully appealed to the Federal Court of Malaysia, was released on the spot, and immediately became politically active, leading a growing opposition party.
In the 2008 Malaysian general election, Anwar's PKR performed strongly, seizing power in five states and failing the ruling party to a two-thirds majority in the lower house for the first time.
However, at a critical moment, history repeats itself again, and Anwar is once again involved in a lawsuit.
This time the "grappling" is even longer. In repeated appeals, dismissals, overturns, and re-appeals, Anwar was sentenced to five years in prison by a federal court in 2015.
Even in prison, Anwar has no shortage of supporters. During this time, a new opposition coalition of Pakatan Harapan Harapan (PH) was formed, and Anwar was elected as the leader of PH.
In 2018, Anwar was freed after receiving an amnesty from the head of state. Two years later, he was expected to get close to the "Prime Minister's Dream", but the Pakatan Harapan government collapsed and he narrowly lost the general election.
In October this year, Malaysia dissolved the parliament and held an early general election, and Anwar, who had been "running" for 24 years, once again stood on the sprint runway. This time Pakatan Harapan won the most seats in the general election, but not as many as needed to form a government. However, after several days of stalemate, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong appointed Anwar as prime minister.
After more than 20 years of waiting, Anwar has finally taken the throne as prime minister.
The wife of the Deputy Prime Minister is backed
During Anwar's repeated years in prison, his wife, Wan Aziza, was always by his side. At each trial, she always wore a plain headscarf and a colorful dress that covered her wrists and ankles, and sat silently in the audience.
Aziza was a surgeon with no political experience. When her husband suddenly changed, while raising six children, she inherited the political legacy left by her husband, continued to lead the "Agni No Flame" movement that advocated reform, and founded the People's Justice Party.
Anwar and wife Aziza.
In 2008, when her husband returned to politics, Azza, who was already a member of parliament, voluntarily resigned from her congressmanship in order to create a by-election opportunity for her husband, allowing Anwar to easily win the by-election. Thanks to the prominent performance of the PKR, Anwar was able to storm the general election.
But just a few months later, Anwar was again indicted. Outside the courtroom, Aziza calmly told reporters, "To me, it's all déjà vu."
In 2018, Pakatan Harapan won the election, and Aziza paid tribute to Deputy Prime Minister, the first female Deputy Prime Minister in Malaysia's history.
That year, Anwar won the parliamentary by-election after being amnestied. When her husband was sworn in as a member of parliament, Aziza in the audience, as deputy prime minister, looked at her husband with a smile.
Aziza is often overshadowed by her husband's scenery, and others say she is nothing more than a "political puppet" for Anwar. But Aziza has also won the respect of a large number of party supporters and has transcended political beliefs to win the affection of many Malaysian women.
In May 2018, Azsha, a deputy prime minister, travelled to Kelantan to meet Tunku Anice, mother of Head of State Mohd V, accompanied by Anwar.
During the visit, Anwar was photographed "blackface" several times.
Later, in a political lecture, Anwar joked that when he was Malaysia's deputy prime minister in the 90s, his wife Aziza accompanied him everywhere. Now the roles of the two are reversed, Aziza is the deputy prime minister, and as a husband, he needs to accompany Wang's Azisha.
According to Anwar, Aziza also complained about this, saying that she had no problem accompanying him on a trip for many years, and now she can't ask him to accompany him once? Anwar replied with a smile, not that he was reluctant to accompany the trip, but suddenly felt a little sad.
This looming sadness has also become the driving force for Anwar to attack the prime minister again and again.
A reporter once asked Anwar after his long prison time whether he had wavered in his faith in continuing to participate in politics.
"No, only more intense," Mr. Anwar said at the time.
Complex challenges
Speaking at a news conference after his swearing-in, Anwar said he would focus on fighting corruption, ensuring good governance, an independent judiciary and the well-being of the people, and welcomed other party coalitions to join the unity government.
Anti-corruption is the focus of his administration.
In an open debate on May 12 this year, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak believed that the current solution to Malaysia's political and economic problems is first and foremost for the country to generate more revenue; Anwar believes that tackling corruption as a priority.
As for China, Anwar said at a press conference after taking the oath of office that China is an important neighbor of Malaysia and will give priority to further upgrading its relations with China in the fields of economy and trade, investment and culture. Malaysia will also enhance relations with the United States, European countries, India and other ASEAN countries.
On November 24, Anwar held a press conference after taking the oath of office.
Anwar has a more moderate personality, and some of his previous ideas will be more liberal, so his political position will seem a bit pro-Western, which is what some Malays have criticized before. But now in the context of the global economic downturn, he will certainly not relax his cooperation with China, because Malaysia's economic development is very dependent on trade with China, and it is unlikely that he will have a drastic change in China policy. Kong Jinlei, a lecturer at the Department of Regional Studies at the School of Asian Studies of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese and an assistant researcher at the Center for Malay Studies in Beijing, told Global People.
In 2014, in an interview with a Chinese media outlet, Anwar suddenly said Chinese about ethnic unity: "Malays, Chinese, we are all one family." ”
He describes himself as a pluralist. "I can eat at the same table as the Chinese. On a visit to China, I was hosted by Chinese leaders, and I saw that there was no alcohol on every table. The Chinese leader explained it because he respected me. But what I want to say is that I don't drink, but it doesn't hurt if others want to drink. When I was finance minister, economic growth or investment wasn't all there was to me, I was concerned with human culture, philosophy, environmental issues. Although I am a Muslim, I also accept other cultures. I visited the birthplace of Confucius. While in Beijing, I visited the Niujie Mosque. In that sense, I love pluralism. ”
In October 2018, when Anwar visited China as a vice prime minister, he said that there is a need for transformation and upgrading in bilateral cooperation between China and Malaysia. In addition to infrastructure, the two sides can further expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, robot manufacturing, high-end technology and high-end manufacturing. China has done very well in these areas, and relevant cooperation can benefit both of us. For China to expand exports, for Malaysia, participation in these high-end advanced technologies can also benefit. "I stress once again that China will continue to be Malaysia's strongest development partner."
In October 2018, Anwar was interviewed by the media during his visit to China.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Anwar on his appointment as the new prime minister and looked forward to deepening the friendship and cooperation between the two sides. However, due to the weighing of the interests of all parties and the consideration of national interests, Anwar is unlikely to be too close to the United States and the West, and is more likely to choose the middle way. Kong Jinlei said.
Whatever the direction of governance, Anwar will face complex challenges.
Malaysia has been led by UMNO for 61 years since independence in 1957. Pakatan Harapan won the general election in 2018, breaking UMNO's long reign. But since then, Malaysian politics has not been peaceful, and the prime minister changes every other year.
"In this election, no coalition of political parties can get a simple majority of votes, and no coalition of parties can win more than half of the parliamentarians to support the formation of a new government, so in the end, the royal family made the final decision to form a grand coalition government, that is, each party coalition sent a certain number of people to some positions in the new government, and the new government was led by Anwar as prime minister." Kong Jinlei said.
"It is normal for a coalition of political parties to come to power in Malaysia, but this is the first time after the general election that the coalition has formed a coalition government with the coalition, i.e. in the form of 'Coalition+'. There are differences in ideology and goals between these political party alliances, and PH has liberal and pluralist tendencies, which is in conflict with the nationalist alliances or political parties such as the National League and UMNO. Previously, Pakatan Harapan could not rally enough parties to form a new government, partly for this reason. In the next five years, the political situation in Malaysia is unlikely to be too stable. People in Congress will consider their own partisan interests, and the process of passing a law or resolution may be more difficult. Kong Jinlei said.
In Kong Jinlei's impression, Anwar was once riddled with lawsuits and went to prison, and he was a very resilient person. Now the first hurdle in front of him is to form a cabinet. Although he has been confirmed as the new Prime Minister, a new Government has not yet been formed.
"I, Anwar Ibrahim, after being appointed Prime Minister, solemnly swear that I will discharge this duty to the best of my ability and dedicate my loyalty to Malaysia." Anwar said during his swearing-in. Then it's up to him to perform.
Column editor-in-chief: Zhang Wu Text editor: Song Hui Title image source: Xinhua News Agency Photo editor: Yong Kai
Source: Author: Universal People