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Year in Review
This Week in Asia

This Year in Malaysia: Anwar realises dream, Najib jailed over 1MDB, nation mourns victims of landslide, floods

  • In Malaysia, a 24-year wait to become prime minister is realised, while a former PM is jailed, and the nation mourns a devastating landslide
  • The country also reopened after two years of living under lengthy and costly Covid-19 lockdowns

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Photo: AFP/File
Hadi Azmiin Kuala Lumpur

Malaysians will remember 2022 for many historical milestones, including seeing the country reopen after two years of living under lengthy and costly Covid-19 lockdowns. But, the most notable highlights occurred in the political arena, with a more than two-decade dream to become prime minister realised, and the unprecedented jailing of a corrupt national leader.

A hard-fought journey

After a 24-year wait that landed him the unfortunate moniker of Malaysia’s perpetual “Prime Minister-in-waiting”, Anwar Ibrahim finally achieved his ambition of being Malaysia’s prime minister following a tense and tight general election in November.
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Anwar, 75, has long been the opposition’s candidate for the premiership since he switched camps in 1998 after he was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and was eventually incarcerated for sodomy, which he maintains are trumped-up charges.

02:59

From prison to Malaysia’s new leader: Anwar Ibrahim appointed to top seat

From prison to Malaysia’s new leader: Anwar Ibrahim appointed to top seat
While his fall from power in 1998 rocked Malaysia’s political landscape by providing the tired opposition camp with renewed momentum, his ascension to power in 2022 is similarly reshaping Malaysia’s political landscape for the foreseeable future.

The key is the coalition government he formed with erstwhile adversaries in Barisan Nasional, the bloc he was sacked from in 1998 who until recently have since been antagonistic towards him. The “unity government” he now leads is washing away decades of rivalries that have long divided the Malaysian people.

Paying for his crimes

The incarceration of corrupt former prime minister Najib Razak is the defining moment of 2022 for many Malaysians who were sceptical they would ever see the politician behind bars, believing he would always evade justice.
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Najib, the aristocratic son of the country’s second prime minister with close ties to the palace, in August began serving a 12-year sentence for his role in looting the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund.
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