Asia
Malaysia
The end of Sodomy 2.0
Jan 9th 2012, 15:47 by R.C.| KUALA LUMPUR
AFTER more than two years of sordid revelations in the media, legal wrangling and political point-scoring, on January 9th the High Court in Malaysia’s capital finally handed down a verdict in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case: not guilty. Homosexuality is illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia, and if found guilty the former deputy prime minister and current leader of the opposition could have been jailed for up to 20 years and whipped. The case began in 2008 when a male aide reported to the police that Mr Anwar had sodomised him. But Mr Anwar and his supporters have always argued that the charge was a lie and that the whole trial was a put-up job by a nervous government, desperate to discredit him after he came close to winning a general election earlier in that year.
Indeed, to many Malaysians the whole case seemed an unlikely re-run of earlier charges brought against Mr Anwar when he was ousted from his post as deputy prime minister in 1998—hence the moniker of Sodomy 2.0 for this case. The first time round he went to prison for six years on corruption and sodomy charges, only to be cleared of the latter by the supreme court in 2004. This time the judge ruled that the prosecution case against Mr Anwar was too flimsy for a conviction; the DNA evidence, in particular, was unreliable.
Indeed, Mr Anwar claims that all the accusations and legal suits over the past 14 years amount to nothing more than a sustained political vendetta against him by the country’s ruling party, which started after he fell out with the autocratic and long-serving prime minister Mahathir Mohammed. Once the golden boy of the United Malays National Organisation, which has ruled the country continuously since independence from the British, Mr Anwar has been demonised by his former colleagues ever since.
Malaysian politics is an unusually dirty business. But the trials of Anwar, together with the explicit sexual revelations in the press that have necessarily accompanied them in the guise of court reporting, have taxed the patience and fortitude of most Malaysians. Whatever they think of Mr Anwar personally, most Malaysians will be glad that the whole thing is finally over and hope that the trial is not followed by Sodomy III.
If the two sodomy charges really were invented by elements within the government bent on wrecking Mr Anwar’s political career, then these attempts have backfired. The first case rallied huge public sympathy for him. In Sodomy 2.0 he has been publicly vindicated, despite a widespread belief that he was going to be convicted. The government swiftly tried to spin the verdict to its advantage, claiming it shows that Malaysia has an “independent” judiciary after all, and that “the government does not hold sway over judges’ decision”. But, such is degree of public cynicism in Malaysia, few will take these statements at face value.
How will the verdict affect Malaysia’s politics? It was delivered against the background of an impending general election, and in the short term Mr Anwar’s victory will doubtless give his party and the opposition in general a much-needed boost. It might even persuade the prime minister, Najib Razak, to postpone going to the polls for a bit longer, to allow time for the political spotlight to swivel back onto his own agenda.
In the longer term, however, the verdict might not serve the opposition so well. Although Mr Anwar remains a charismatic figure and a forceful speaker, he is at 64, he is too familiar and his ideas and rhetoric have not really shifted since the mid-1990s. He has failed to groom a successor or to nurture a new generation of opposition leaders. Rather than becoming a vibrant, modernising force in politics his party has become something of a family-run affair, riven by discord and infighting. In prison, so the hard-nosed political operators say, he would have served as a useful martyr to rally the opposition. Now they are stuck with him indefinitely; a man still strong and popular enough to worry the government, but too weakened to win an election or recruit the cohorts of younger voters that they need. As a result, the more savvy, younger politicians will now be eyeing up the following election for their opportunity, not this coming one. And that’s not good for democracy in Malaysia, which is rarely in rude good health at the best of times.
In this blog, our Asia correspondents and our Banyan columnist provide comment and analysis on Asia's political and cultural landscape. The blog takes its name from the Banyan tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment and Gujarati merchants used to conduct business.
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"a man still strong and popular enough to worry the government, but too weakened to win an election or recruit the cohorts of younger voters that they need."
Banyan's K.L correspondent is sorely mistaken here. For the readers' enlightenment, the Najib administration fears Anwar Ibrahim to the point of fixation owing to many factors AND younger voters in Malaysia are in actual fact categorically inclined in favour of the Anwar-helmed opposition coalition. Further explanation below.
First off, not only does the government of the day view him as the 'magic glue' that hold the three disparate opposition parties together in a formidable coalition and ultimately a viable contender to Prime Minister Najib Razak, Anwar as a former UMNO member and former deputy prime minister under former PM Mahathir until his ouster from the party has substantial inside information on what goes on in UMNO, warts and all. And much of what goes on in UMNO is the banality of evil(most prominently blatant corruption), as could well be expected from five decades of uninterrupted power. Hence, the fear on the part of those complicit. So much so even retired former PM Mahathir in his twilight years is himself active in trying to stir up public opinion against Anwar every now and then. The reason the sex expose and sodomy charges are employed against Anwar is twofold. First being that the ruling government can't seem to find any incriminating evidence of Anwar's involvement in corrupt practices during his time in UMNO because if they would have found it, they wouldn't have kept silent and would've prosecuted him to the full extent of the law. Therefore, the need for another avenue to finish him off politically. And what better way to rile sensitivities in a Muslim-majority populace than this. This in a nutshell was how Sodomy 1.0 and 2.0 came about.
The whole affair has undoubtedly produced disparaging views of the country but it has to be said it has nothing to do at all with ordinary Malaysians. The progenitor is a bunch of corrupt UMNO politicians who had stolen from the country and is afraid of what might befall them if ever they should be dislodged from power.
As for the second point, local anecdotal evidence and the prevailing sentiment among current younger voters couldn't be more different from what was asserted in the article. Banyan's K.L correspondent has either been deluded by the pervasive state-controlled mainstream media or he's just been fed inaccurate information at his local drinking hole.
It would be interesting to know if these laws affect the non-Muslim people.
Sodomy is now mainly considered a crime in the Ummah now as more and more societies accept and follow the sexual norms of the West. The Hegemon can easily put up a case for Human rights to pressure the Ummah.
The issue has nothing whatever to do with the West ( whatever that means ). Malaysia has to decide if it accepts the sexual practices of Malaysians or not. Whatever it chooses to do will have no impact whatsoever on what those sexual practices actually are.
Democracy does not exist in Malaysia.It practices now UMNOcracy!
Anwar cannot be blamed for the brutal treatment metered out to him by his enemies. He was effectively crippled. As for the Malays, when I was there I saw them as a beautiful and easy-going people with few sexual hangups.
For your future reference, homosexuality is not itself illegal in Malaysia. Rather, carnal intercourse against the order of nature (i.e. “the introduction of the penis into the anus or mouth of the other person”) is an offence under section 377B of the Penal Code, which can be – and probably is more often – committed by heterosexual couples than homosexual couples.
LMAO, my above comment was number 69 - now that is funny considering this article is about sodomy!
I agree. UMNO 's leaders have changed tactics.
They understood they cannot follow playing so dirty, Malaysians are not stupid, they cannot be fooled forever.
Instead, new PM is trying to open up the politics in order to show a more "open and democratic" face of UMNO ahead of the election, while Anwar Ibrahim now is getting old and no longer a martyr.
I don't believe in the genuinity and good faith of this new democratic face of UMNO, it's just a tactic, trying to adapt it to the current situation. Malaysia is still a very flawed democracy, if the word democracy can be used. Maybe limited or controlled democracy.
Actually, the problem with Malaysia is simply her people.
A good rule of law verdict can do nothing but good for democracy.
It's remarkable how this is the "ECONOMIST," and yet you have so many people here so quick to bash religion. You guys need a wake up call. Malaysia is a backwards nation because of its Economic state, not becuase of religion. Funny how you never hear criticism of any Indian religion when the Economist prints articles about troubles in India. You never hear anyone bash religion when the article is about the economic state in China, Eastern European nations, Etc.
Actually, Malaysia's economy is pretty decent.
The Malaysian Attorney General should explain why if two persons engaging in the act of sodomy which is a crime in Malaysia, only one of the party Anwar Ibrahim was ever charged and prosecuted. Isn't that a miscarriage of justice? It seems like people opposing the government like Anwar Ibrahim can find themselves charged for frivolous reasons, but the powerful members of the establishment can literally get away with murder and other forms of crime without even being prosecuted. A case in point is the murder of the Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu in which the killers who were members of the special police force Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were convicted of the crime. However who gave the order for the poor woman to be killed? Until now this is a mystery. However we can suspect that some form of coverup is going on.
Having listened to the TE interview of Anwar Ibrahim some time ago, all I can say is that this man is an Intelligent, wise man with only patriotism as his driving force.
A story that could inspire DSK's line of defence.
Although I believe Anwar deserve what he got, I think that suing him using the dreadful S-word is a bad idea. I cannot even speak the word! People will remember Malaysia with the S-word attached!
Dear Economist,
Please don't use the word. It makes me vomitting!
Malaysia has come a long way. It is a country built on the compromises of its constituent cultures that has defied the predictions of its British midwife by remaining essentially peaceful and prosperous. There are of course problems.
The last general election saw an urbanized west coast slap BN hard in the face for insulting their intelligence; Anwar 1.0, unabated corruption, comic scandals and electoral roll issues all played their part. It will be fascinating to see how the urban electorate assesses the risk of continuing to support a strong opposition ( that they do want ) when it comes at the price of having the Islamist PAS ( that they most definitely don't want ) on board.
Malaysia is full of contradictions. Its increasingly liberal and tolerant city people are represented by politicians who need their votes more than ever but can't afford to lose the rural social conservatives either. This is how you end up with senior politician's on trial for being homosexual in a city with more openly gay people and night spots than you can shake a stick at.
Najib implies that the government wanted Anwar locked up for buggery and would, if they could have, "influenced" the judiciary to ensure it happened. The cynical view is that the government charged him for un-Islamic behavior for rural votes and have calculated that failing to prosecute him is better for urban ones.
Although keeping religion out of politics and ensuring judicial independence should be taken for granted in a sensible developed democracy, Malaysia does seem to have a multi-party system that is capable of having an impact on what its politicians can say and do.
Isn't that democracy?
A strange mistake for a "democratic" leadership to make, showing fear of the opposition. Fear destroys your credibility as a leader, so how terrible must this Ibrahim guy be that the voters prefer cowards over him.
The feudalistic politics in Malaysia is notorious for the prosecution of opposition members. The judicial system is very corrupt and prosecution is very selective. When members of the royalty commit crimes they are never prosecuted. A famous example is the deceased sultan of Johor who clubbed his jockey to death with a golf club. No memtion of the heinous crime was even reported in the mainstream press. The sultan of Pahang when he was King of Malaysia was alleged to have raped a Filipino nurse at gun point begeting an illegitimate daughter, however no action was even taken to investigate this crime. The list goes on and on. In Malaysia criminals do get away with corruption and murder is they are part of the government or related to the government. Anwar Ibrahim is the best hope for Malsysia to clean up this mess!
What do mean 64 is old? If he's healthy he can keep on working until 84!!! I see this in Western countries all the time.
Cleaning up Dr. M's craftmanship has had been punishing for his successors - including Najid. He is trying to save his next term. The sex scandals in Malaysia, excluding Anwar, were just a media flash and off radar. But Anwar has been pursued like a hidden pain in UMNO - the charge would and could not stick. UMNO will appeal or Dr. M and cronies will suffer the consequences. Can there be an offer of truce? I think this will go down in Malaysia history with credit to Dr. M's obsession with power.
He cost to much for Malaysia,politically and reputation of Malaysia been damaged,Public not willing and trust the judiciary so he has to be found not guilty.
There is no doubt that this man has not what it takes to be a Prime Minister,and that's all he wants, actually.
I would bet on for Sodomy 3 soon enough.
But all this scenario makes Malaysians more alert about politicians
and ruling Government and opposition has to lift their political games & this is a good thing for Malaysia