Anwar Imprisoned Again: Pakatan Rakyat Subsequently Collapsed
A Five-Year Sentence, Two Opposing Evaluations, and the Hudud Controversy That PAS and DAP Could Never Cross
On February 10, 2015, when Anwar left the Federal Court, he was no longer heading home.
The five-member bench unanimously upheld the Court of Appeal's verdict: guilty, and sentenced to five years in prison. 1,2
Seventeen years ago, he had walked into a prison cell from the post of Deputy Prime Minister; now, having led the opposition coalition to win more national votes, he lost his freedom once again.
One Case, Two Un-deletable Records#
The Federal Court judged that the prosecution's evidence was sufficient for a conviction and rejected the political conspiracy defense. That was the official legal conclusion of Malaysia's highest court. 1,2
The Malaysian Bar criticized the evidence and procedures of the case, and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention later determined that the detention was arbitrary and called for his release. These were the official evaluations of a professional body and an international human rights mechanism, but they were not an appellate court that could overturn a Malaysian judgment. 3,2
Without Anwar, the Three Parties Finally Scattered#
The cracks in Pakatan Rakyat did not only stem from the leader's imprisonment.
PAS's push to implement Islamic criminal law (hudud) in Kelantan clashed directly with DAP's secular constitutional stance. Conservative and progressive factions competed within PAS, and DAP announced it could no longer work with PAS President Hadi Awang; by mid-2015, the three-party coalition had effectively dissolved. 4,5
This cannot be summarized merely as "the opposition was disunited."
PKR, DAP, and PAS were able to sit at the same table after 2008 because they agreed to prioritize elections, justice, integrity, and public livelihood, but they never resolved their fundamental differences over the nation's religious direction. Anwar excelled at temporarily stitching these differences together; once he went to prison, the stitches could not withstand the power shifts within the parties. 4,5
The progressive faction of PAS subsequently formed Parti Amanah Negara, and together with PKR and DAP, they formed Pakatan Harapan in September 2015. 4,5
The old coalition was dead, but the new coalition still lacked someone who could penetrate the Malay rural areas and UMNO's organizational network.
At this time, an old man rejected by the successor he had chosen began to stand beside the opposition camp.
Mahathir returned not because he suddenly agreed with all of Anwar's past grievances.
It was because a name called 1MDB had publicly severed the relationship between the former and current Prime Minister.
Next: "1MDB Scandal: Yachts and Masterpieces at the US Press Conference". While Malaysia was still debating the accounts domestically, foreign enforcement agencies were already laying out the asset list in front of the cameras.
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