Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar bin Ibrahim (born 10 August 1947) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia since 2022. A member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Tambun since 2022. Upon becoming prime minister, he appointed himself Minister of Finance. Anwar is also the president of PKR since 2018 and the chairman of Pakatan Harapan coalition since 2020. Born in the Crown Colony of Penang during the Malayan Union, Anwar graduated from University of Malaya. Prior to entering politics, he served as president of the National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students and of the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement. He later joined UMNO, then the dominant party in the long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. He became the 7th deputy prime minister in 1993 and served as minister of finance from 1991, playing a key role in Malaysia's response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In 1998, Anwar was removed from all government posts by then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and subsequently led the Reformasi movement against the government. He was jailed in April 1999 on charges of corruption and sodomy, until his release in 2004 after his conviction was overturned. He returned to politics as the 12th leader of the opposition from 2008 to 2015, merging opposition parties into the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition, which contested the 2008 and 2013 general elections. In 2014, Anwar attempted to become Menteri Besar of Selangor as part of the Kajang Move, sparking a nine-month political crisis that ended with a five-year prison sentence following a second sodomy conviction in 2015. While in prison, he rejoined Mahathir Mohamad in the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in absentia, which won the 2018 general election, with a plan for Anwar to succeed Mahathir as prime minister after an interim period. Anwar was granted a royal pardon and returned to parliament while his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, served as deputy prime minister. During the 2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis, the PH coalition collapsed, with Anwar becoming the opposition leader for a second term from 2020 to 2022. Following the 2022 general election, where Pakatan Harapan won a plurality of seats, Anwar was sworn in as prime minister on 24 November 2022. He appointed MPs from PH, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), and UMNO as ministers in a unity government cabinet, retaining the finance portfolio for himself. During Anwar's premiership, his government introduced some reforms, including to subsidies, education and the death penalty, although a constitutional amendment introducing a 10-year term limit for prime ministers failed to pass. His government has faced controversy for the discharge not amounting to acquittal of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who faced corruption charges. In foreign affairs, Anwar's government supported Palestine in the Gaza war, litigated in the North Borneo dispute, and began the process of joining BRICS. As the ASEAN chairman from 2025 until 2026, Anwar facilitated a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, addressing the border dispute through regional diplomatic channels.

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