KUALA LUMPUR, KOMPAS.com — Mantan pemimpin oposisi Malaysia , Anwar Ibrahim , bebas dari penjara pada Rabu (16/5/2018) setelah mendapat pengampunan atas kasus sodomi yang mengirimnya ke penjara selama tiga tahun terakhir. Dengan senyum tersungging di wajahnya dan terlihat elegan dengan setelah hitam, Anwar keluar dari RS Rehabilitasi Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, tempatnya menjalani operasi bahu. Sambil melangkah keluar dari rumah sakit, Anwar mengacungkan ibu jarinya ke arah para jurnalis yang menanti sebelum masuk mobil dan melaju tanpa memberikan komentar. Politisi berusia 70 tahun itu sebenarnya divonis hukuman penjara lima tahun karena dianggap terbukti melakukan sodomi.
Baca juga: Jika Raja Malaysia Beri Pengampunan, Anwar Ibrahim Bisa Bebas Hari Ini Dia dibebaskan setelah Yang Dipertuan Agung Muhamman V memberikan pengampunan penuh. Selain itu, Yang Dipertuan Agung juga mengundang Anwar untuk menyambangi Istana Kerajaan pada pukul 12.30 waktu setempat. Pekan lalu, para pemimpin Pakatan Harapan, kelompok oposisi pimpinan Mahathir Mohamad , memohon agar kerajaan mengampuni Anwar Ibrahim. Koalisi berjanji bahwa perdana menteri baru, Mahathir Mohamad, akan menyerahkan jabatan kepada Anwar dalam waktu dua tahun. Pembebasan Anwar seolah menjadi pemuncak karier politiknya yang naik turun selama dua dekade terakhir yang diwarnai dua kali hukuman penjara di bawah dua perdana menteri yang berbeda. Anwar pernah menjadi wakil Mahathir saat menjabat perdana menteri sebelum dipecat pada 1998 sebelum dipenjarakan dengan tuduhan sodomi dan korupsi. Saat itu, Mahathir mengatakan, dia harus menyingkirkan Anwar karena dia "tak cocok itu menjadi perdana menteri". Di sisi lain, Anwar bersikukuh tuduhan yang diarahkan kepadanya dibuat-buat karena Mahathir terancam dengan popularitasnya yang terus naik. Saat dibebaskan pada 2004, Anwar membentuk gerakan "reformasi" menentang koalisi Barisan Nasional yang saat itu masih dipimpin Mahathir Mohamad. Gerakan itu terbukti cukup ampuh dan menjadikan oposisi sebagai kekuatan baru yang harus diperhitungkan. Pendahulu Pakatan Harapan, yaitu koalisi Pakatan Rakyat, sukses memberikan pukulan telak untuk Barisan Nasional pada pemilu 2008 dan 2013.
Baca juga: Anwar Ibrahim Bakal Dibebaskan pada Selasa 15 Mei Namun, akibatnya, Anwar kembali menjadi musuh pemerintah. Di saat Najib Razak menjadi perdana menteri, Anwar kembali dikirim ke penjara pada 2015, masih dengan tuduhan melakukan sodomi. Dia bersikukuh tak bersalah dan menegaskan baik Mahathir maupun Najib mengirimnya ke penjara hanya agar dirinya tidak bisa berkecimpung di dunia politik.
Reuters , CNN Indonesia | Rabu, 16/05/2018 08:11 WIB
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia -- Perdana menteri baru Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad , mengatakan dirinya masih akan menjabat selama satu atau dua tahun sebelum menyerahkan kekuasaan kepada Anwar Ibrahim , pemimpin oposisi yang rencananya akan dibebaskan dari hukuman penjara hari ini, Rabu (16/5). Mahathir (92) mengatakan "dalam waktu dekat" pemerintah bisa mendakwa Najib Razak, pendahulunya yang dijerat skandal miliaran dolar yayasan 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Koalisi empat partai yang dipimpin Mahathir dan Anwar memenangkan pemilihan umum pekan lalu, menggulingkan koalisi Barisan Nasional untuk pertama kalinya dalam sejarah Malaysia. Mahathir dilantik sebagai perdana menteri pada Kamis, menjadi pemimpin negara tertua yang terpilih secara demokratis.
"Awalnya, mungkin selama satu atau dua tahun, saya akan jadi perdana menteri," kata Mahathir melalui panggilan video kepada konferensi CEO Wall Street Journal di Tokyo, dikutip Reuters .
"Saya akan menjalankan peran di balik layar bahkan setelah saya mengundurkan diri." Dewan pengampunan Malaysia akan menggelar rapat siang ini untuk membahas pembebasan Anwar dan Mahathir mengatakan ia akan langsung dibebaskan. Anwar (70) tengah menjalani hukuman penjara lima tahun untuk kedua kalinya karena kasus sodomi. Dia dan para pendukungnya menyebut kasus itu sarat muatan politik. Ampunan raja akan menghapus vonis Anwar dan memperbolehkannya untuk kembali berpartisipasi di dunia politik. Beberapa bulan terakhir dia dirawat di rumah sakit setelah menjalani operasi bahu.
Saat berkampanye, Mahathir yang sempat berkuasa selama 22 tahun sejak 1981, berjanji akan mengundurkan diri dan menyerahkan kekuasaan kepada Anwar begitu ia diampuni. Namun, keduanya dihadapkan pada perbedaan pendapat terkait formasi kabinet, dan dalam kesempatann ini Mahathir menegaskan bahwa dirinyalah yang berwenang. "Saya memperkirakan dia akan menjalani peran sebagai pemimpin tiga partai lain. Tidak akan ada kekuasaan khusus yang diberikan selain yang diberikan kepada menteri atau wakil menteri," kata Mahathir. Dia juga mengatakan dirinyalah yang akan menentukan keputusan final terkait pos di kabinet. The Wall Street Journal mengutip rekaman audio dari Anwar yang menyebut Mahathir mesti diberi waktu untuk mencapai tujuannya.
"Saya tak terburu-buru," kata Anwar dalam laporan itu. Reuters tak bisa memverifikasi laporan tersebut. (aal)
Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, jailed for sodomy three years ago, has walked free from prison after receiving a royal pardon.
Anwar’s release is the first big success of the newly elected governing coalition, Pakatan Harapan, led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, which was swept into power after a shock election victory last week.
At 11.30am on Wednesday, a frail but jubilant Anwar emerged from Cheras rehabilitation hospital in Kuala Lumpur, where he has recently been serving his sentence after an operation on his shoulder. He waved to the gathered crowds before getting into a car to go to the National Palace, where he met the king for an hour to formalise his pardon.
Bhavan Jaipragas 八万 (@jbhavan) Anwar Ibrahim wanted to deliver a few remarks but the media scrum was too crazy. He ducked into the waiting car that will take him to the National Palace. What a moment in history. #GE14 pic.twitter.com/PEXQjtkzov
“Today is a new beginning. It is a new chapter in our country,” he said.
Few in Malaysia have been persecuted for their political views and popularity like Anwar, a man with three prison sentences and 11 years in jail to his name. The pardon was filed on the basis of a “miscarriage of justice”, thus clearing his name entirely.
It was his first taste of freedom since 2015, following a prison sentence widely perceived as politically motivated; a manoeuvre by former prime minister Najib Razak to get rid of a feared political rival who had run against him – and won the popular vote – in the 2013 general election.
Speaking at a press conference at his home following his release, Anwar said he bore no personal malice towards either former prime minister Najib or Mahathir, who was responsible for his first prison sentence in 1999.
“I have forgiven him,” said Anwar when asked about Najib. “But the issue of injustice towards the people, crimes committed against the people, endemic corruption that has become a culture in this country, that he has to answer for.”
Ensuring the full royal pardon of Anwar was a key part of the agreement between Mahathir and the opposition when it was decided in January he would swap sides and run as their leader in the election, united by a joint desire to oust Najib. Mahathir’s previous 22-year reign as prime minister was as head of the ruling party Umno.
A beaming Anwar, sitting next to his wife, Dr Wan Azizah – who is now deputy prime minister – stressed he was no rush to return to politics, and would be spending some time with his family and speaking at Harvard, Stanford and Georgetown universities. Under the agreement with the opposition, Mahathir will serve as prime minister for two years, before handing power, finally, to Anwar.
“I don’t need to serve in the cabinet for now,” said Anwar. “I have informed Dr Mahathir it is very kind to offer but I have said no, it is better that you and Azizah and the team continue and allow me to take some time with the family ... I think I need that time, that space.”
The release also marks the next phase in Mahathir and Anwar’s turbulent relationship, which has been a decisive part of Malaysian politics for over three decades.
At last, tyranny has ended in Malaysia. Now let’s build an open society | Nurul Izzah Anwar Read more
Anwar was adamant that he and Mahathir had buried the hatchet, and said he trusted him to implement the opposition reform agenda.
“One of the very well-known world statesmen was joking with me: ‘Anwar, are you sure, are you telling me the truth. Look at me and tell me say that you’ve forgiven him [Mahathir]?’,” recounted Anwar.
“I looked at him and I said: ‘My interest now is the wealth of the nation. I have forgiven him. He has proven his mettle, he has made sacrifices ... he has even facilitated my release. Why should I have any malice towards him?”
Anwar began his career in politics as Mahathir’s protege in the early 1980s – having already spent almost two years in jail for political protest – and quickly rose through the ranks to become deputy prime minister in 1993.
His first downfall came in 1998, when he and Mahathir fell out over alleged cronyism and economic crisis, and Mahathir began to fear Anwar’s vast popularity. Anwar was ousted from office and then found himself charged with sodomy and corruption.
The resulting court case, the longest in Malaysian history, was an exercise in humiliation for Anwar, who was accused of sodomy with his speechwriter and wife’s chauffeur.
“I cannot accept a man who is a sodomist to become the leader of this country,” said Mahathir at the time. Even though the evidence was flimsy and much of it coerced, Anwar was found guilty in 1999 of corruption and in 2000 of sodomy, landing him with a cumulative 15-year prison sentence.
Malaysia: Mahathir says Najib must 'face consequences' in corruption inquiry Read more
He was allowed out in 2004, having spent six years in solitary confinement, and was allowed back into politics in 2008, when he ran as opposition leader in the election. But his reappearance on the political scene was not without ramifications. In 2010, he was put on trial again for sodomy, in hearings that went on for two years. He was acquitted, then ran again as opposition leader in the 2013 elections, gaining more of the votes, but still losing to Najib.
But a year after Najib won the election, Anwar’s acquittal was overturned and he was sentenced to five years in jail for sodomy, where he has remained since.
Throughout his ordeal, Anwar has remained a uniting figure for the opposition, and his release will be decisive for the Pakatan Harapan coalition, who are already grappling with tension among their divided ranks of Anwar’s PKR party, Mahathir’s party Bersatu, the DAP and Amanah.
His release was greeted with jubilation nationwide. Among the crowds at the hospital was Anwar’s old university friend, 78-year-old Azidin Mahmud, who travelled 300 miles to see the release. “He has suffered too long but he really is a champion of justice,” said Azidin.
“I saw him first speaking at the University of Malaysia Speaker’s Corner in 1968. Then we travelled together around all Malaysia, fighting for the freedom of the poor man. I am very very happy to see my friend finally released today. Long live Anwar Ibrahim.”
Laporan Wartawan Tribunnews.com, Srihandriatmo Malau
TRIBUNNEWS.COM, KUALA LUMPUR - Pemimpin de facto PKR Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim mengaku telah lama mengampuni lawan politiknya yang kini menjadi Perdana Menteri Malaysia Mahathir Mohammad.
Kini Anwar Ibrahim, telah diberikan pengampunan penuh oleh Raja Malaysia, Sultan Muhammad V mengikuti koalisi Pakatan Harapan yang catatkan kemenangan bersejarah dalam pemilu ke-14.
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Dalam konferensi pers pertamanya setelah dibebaskan, hari ini, Rabu (16/5/2018), Anwar mengatakan banyak orang mempertanyakan dan bersikap sinis tentang kerja samanya dengan Mahathir.
Apalagi mengingat yang telah terjadi 20 tahun yang lalu.
"Banyak orang mempertanyakan mengapa Anda bekerja dengan orang itu? Dan mereka menjadi sangat sinis bertanya "apakah Anda serius" Apakah Anda tulus."
Anwar duduk di samping istrinya yang juga Wakil Perdana Menteri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, saat konferensi pers pertamanya di kediaman setelah bebas.
"Jadi saya memandang dia dan aku berkata, minat saya sekarang adalah kesejahteraan bangsa," cetus Anwar.
"Saya telah mengampuni (Mahathir) dan ia telah membuktikan keberaniannya, dia telah membuat pengorbanan, ia difitnah di media? Saya memberitahu you "ini seperti déjà vu!! kata mantan Menteri Keuangan itu.
Menurutnya Mahathir telah berjuang, bekerja keras, dan sekarang telah didukung dalam agenda reformasi.
