If Anwar Ibrahim had become prime minister of Malaysia in the late 1990s, when he was in his early 50s, instead of being jailed on trumped-up sodomy and corruption charges, Malaysia might now be a very different place. He's finally getting his chance, but now he's 75. Is it too late for the kind of Malaysia he promised?
From the start, Mr Anwar promised to fight corruption and "rid this country of racism and religious bigotry." Corruption is certainly rampant -- former prime minister Najib Razak was jailed early this year for looting billions of dollars from government funds -- but what really distinguishes Mr Anwar is his stand against ethnic and religious favouritism.
Malaysia is a complicated country. It was one of the Asian "Tigers", and it has a much higher per capita GDP ($12,900 or 307,350 baht per annum) than any other big country in South or Southeast Asia. But one particular ethnic and religious group is quite poor: the Malays, the overwhelming majority of whom are Muslims.
