Malaysia's opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim speaks during a news conference, July 17, 2008.
(REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad)
But other members of Anwar's "rainbow coalition" - Chinese parties and urban reformers - remain suspicious of their electoral partner, Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), and its Islamic agenda in this multicultural nation of 27 million people.
Anwar, 60, who was jailed on charges of sodomy and corruption a decade ago, has denied the latest charge that he had sex with a 23-year-old male aide. He was released on bail, allowing him to contest an August 26 by-election, which he is favoured to win.
His wife, who was the opposition leader in parliament, vacated the seat so he could contest the election, enter parliament, and initiate a grand plan to lead the opposition to power in Malaysia for the first time by wooing defections from the governing coalition.
But he needs PAS in his pocket to pull all that off. The party has shrugged off the charge of sodomy, an abhorrent practice in Islam, and is backing Anwar's election bid.
"Give Anwar a chance to become an MP," PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat said recently.
"PAS should support Anwar even though we are hardly similar in political ideology," he was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying.
Nik Aziz has also said the sodomy charge would not affect Anwar's credibility.
PAS NEEDS PARTNERS
PAS has 23 seats in parliament out of 82 held by Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat coalition and it won over Indian and Chinese voters in March elections when the alliance secured power in five of 13 state governments, dealing the governing coalition its worst-ever electoral showing.
"Whenever PAS has been in a coalition with other parties it has fared well in elections," said Terence Gomez, professor at the University of Malaya's Faculty of Economics & Administration. "So PAS needs Anwar if it wants to do well outside of the Malay heartland, and that the party members cannot deny."
PAS modernisers argue the party has grown out of its isolated, poor base in the northeast of the country and that it wants a share of power so it can implement some of its policies.
But PAS conservatives still wield considerable power.
They protested at the weekend against a meeting of the Malaysia Bar Council's forum on conversions of non-Muslims to Islam, and the PAS youth wing also wants the government to ban pop star Avril Lavigne's concert in August.
Suspicions of PAS run deep among its partners in the loose opposition alliance and the feeling is mutual among PAS hardliners.
PAS talks last month with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) on safeguarding Malay-Muslim rights prompted speculation it was about to quit the opposition alliance.
