KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's main opposition party would step aside for jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim to lead the country if their alliance won power on his release, the leader of Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) said.
Anwar was sacked in 1998 from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government and the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) before imprisonment for 15 years on corruption and sodomy convictions he says were trumped up.
Mahathir calls his former protege immoral and unfit to rule.
"We find that Anwar is a suitable national leader and also that the public has expressed their support for Anwar," PAS leader Fadzil Noor said in an interview on Thursday.
"We will go along with this and we will play, as PAS, an active role in supporting Anwar," he said.
The conservative Islamic party mined a deep vein of Malay unease at Anwar's humiliation, winning 27 seats in a 1999 general election and gaining control of a second state on peninsular Malaysia's east coast.
But it fell far short of power in the 193-seat assembly.
Mahathir has said he will step down after the next election, due by 2004, prompting jostling for position within UMNO and talk of Anwar's early release once he goes.
Meanwhile, PAS consolidates its strength, batting back UMNO's offer of Malay unity talks with calls for judicial reform and an end to what it says is corruption and nepotism in government.
PAS, the Parti Keadilan Nasional (National Justice Party), formed by Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to champion his cause, and the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action Party are the three main parties in the opposition Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front) alliance.
An opposition victory in national polls still seems remote, but questions have been raised about the possibility of PAS leaving the alliance if Anwar was freed and its own support base reaches critical mass.
Keadilan captured just five seats in the 1999 election, putting it behind PAS and the Democratic Action Party which won 10 seats.
But PAS's continuing readiness to back Anwar reflects acceptance the former deputy premier's powerful oratory and populist touch would outshine any candidate it might put forward.
ANWAR FIGHT IN THE COURTS
The soft-spoken, 64-year-old Fadzil, speaking through an interpreter, said Anwar would be fighting his cause in court.
"We are still confident that if the legal and judicial system operates as it should then Anwar's future will still be bright."
Anwar, who is awaiting surgery on a bad back, contests both his convictions and has yet to exhaust appeals options.
Fadzil said opposition hopes lay with Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, who made soothing remarks about restoring public faith in the judiciary after his appointment in December.
"The new chief justice has made it very clear he wants to ensure that the judicial system will be fair," he said.
The prime minister and his then deputy made a sparkling pair in the 1990s as Mahathir preened national pride while Anwar courted Muslim Malays with his strong religious credentials.
Their bitter split over policy as Asia's financial crisis raged left Malays unsure about whom to turn to.
Mahathir's ruling alliance won in 1999 despite slumping support among Malays, the country's majority ethnic group and UMNO's traditional support base.
PAS has tried in recent years to soften its image for the benefit of minority ethnic Chinese and Indians, dropping talk of making Malaysia an Islamic state though it remains a policy goal.
Fadzil, with greying beard and wearing a dark skullcap, saw scant chance of PAS getting the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed to implement huddud law, the penal code under which Muslim adulterers can be stoned to death and thieves have limbs removed.
"We have to view this issue realistically," he said, adding that Barisan Alternatif (BA) alliance parties acted together.
"This cannot be achieved just through PAS members because we are in parliament as BA, not as PAS alone... We believe that our BA party members also understand (this)."
Fadzil played down BA problems in holding itself together.
"It's a problem but it's not a problem that we cannot solve."
05:09 04-06-01
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