Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian academic and politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
Dato' Seri Haji Anwar bin Ibrahim (Jawi: أنوار بن إبراهيم; IPA: [änwär ɪbrähɪm]; born 10 August 1947) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 12th and 16th Leader of the Opposition since May 2020 and from August 2008 to March 2015, 2nd Chairman of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition since February 2020 and 2nd President of the People's Justice Party (PKR) since November 2018. He has also served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Port Dickson since October 2018. He was formerly Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1993 to 1998, under Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Anwar started his political career as one of the founders of youth organisation Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM). After joining the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the major party in the long-time ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, Anwar held several high-profile cabinet positions in successive governments in the 1980s and 1990s. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1993 to 1998 and was Finance Minister from 1991 to 1998, during which he was prominent in Malaysia's response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. However, he was removed from all posts by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in September 1998, after which Anwar led the Reformasi movement against the government. Anwar was jailed in April 1999 after a trial for sodomy and corruption that was criticised by human rights groups and several foreign governments as politically motivated. He was released in 2004 after his conviction was overturned. He was the Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2015 and was prominent coalescing the opposition parties into the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition, which unsuccessfully contested in the 2008 and 2013 general elections. He disputed the results of the 2013 elections and led a protest in response. In 2014, Anwar's attempt to become Selangor head of government in the 2014 Kajang Move led to a nine-month political crisis, which ended when he was sentenced to another five years imprisonment after a second sodomy conviction in 2015.While still in prison, Anwar re-joined Mahathir Mohamad under new coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) in absentia, which went on to win the 2018 general election. Mahathir outlined a plan for Anwar to take over from himself as Prime Minister after an unspecified interim period. A few days after the election, Anwar received a royal pardon from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Muhammad V and was released from prison. He soon made a comeback as a backbencher MP by contesting and winning the 2018 Port Dickson by-election while his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail served as the Deputy Prime Minister in the PH administration.
Despite the intention for Anwar to take over as Prime Minister, the collapse of the PH coalition during 2020–22 Malaysian political crisis led to the new Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration under Muhyiddin Yassin being sworn in and Anwar becoming Leader of the Opposition the second time in May 2020.