Malaysian PM-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim insists no timeline on taking power as he makes official return to politics

Democracy icon sworn in as lawmaker after sweeping by-election victory, wants current Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to “continue unaffected by constraints of time or pressure”

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Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim has made a return to active politics three years after he was imprisoned for sodomy in a charge critics said was politically motivated. Photo: AP

Published: 6:45pm, 15 Oct 2018Updated: 11:36pm, 15 Oct 2018

Malaysia’s reformist icon Anwar Ibrahim, jailed twice since 1998 in politically charged prosecutions, cemented his return to frontline politics on Monday when he was sworn in as a lawmaker, fresh from a sweeping by-election victory.

The eyes of the country’s commentariat were on parliament proceedings as Anwar took his seat in the legislature’s government benches alongside Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad – who two decades ago had booted him from cabinet over sodomy and corruption allegations.

Anwar’s parliamentary return was the latest milestone in the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition’s plan to have him succeed Mahathir as prime minister two years from now.

Anwar, however, insisted that for now he did not want a role in cabinet or to put a definitive timeline on his elevation as prime minister, despite speculation of an emerging power struggle with Mahathir.

The leader-in-waiting said he wanted his former mentor to have the space and latitude to “continue unaffected by these constraints of time or pressure”.

Now allies once again, the two men sat opposite Najib Razak, the former prime minister – also a former Mahathir protégé – who was toppled in the May 9 general election and is now part of the opposition.

Najib goes to trial in February on corruption charges relating to a scandal that rocked sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.