Can Anwar Ibrahim save Malaysia from corruption?
We quiz the country’s former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and speak with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
In this week’s UpFront, we ask Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister, about the possibility of becoming the country’s next leader.
And in a Special Interview, the veteran investigative journalist and author of Reporter: A Memoir, Seymour Hersh, discusses his views on media in the Trump era and Bashar al-Assad‘s regime in Syria.
Headliner: Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim: ‘Najib was responsible’
After years of imprisonment, Anwar is making a political comeback as the president-elect of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party).
Anwar’s newly formed coalition with current PM Mahathir Mohamad – who supported Anwar’s first conviction and imprisonment under widely criticised charges – led them to surprising election victory in May.
When asked whether he believed Mahathir would step down within two years to allow him to become prime minister as agreed, Anwar said he had no cause for concern.
“What is important is that there was a written agreement signed in 2015 by all the leaders and I see no reason why I should even demand or harass him to resign earlier, because I think what he’s doing now is important,” said Anwar.
Commenting on the ongoing 1MDB corruption scandal involving former Prime Minister Najib Razak, Anwar said: “It is one of the worst financial scandals involving any government”.
“Najib was responsible. He chaired many of those meetings. He instructed, clearly, the authorities to then disperse the funds,” said Ibrahim, adding that it is “imperative that stiff action be taken”.
Special Interview: Seymour Hersh: Journalism ‘is going to hell’
Seymour Hersh’s name is well-known in the world of journalism.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, who exposed the My Lai massacre and the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, has become a legendary figure for some.
In recent years, Hersh’s reporting on Syria has been vigorously challenged in some unlikely quarters. When asked about accusations that he has become an apologist for Al-Assad, Hersh said: “Bashar understands that if he loses this war, he’s going to be like Mussolini … hanging from a lamp pole.”
“I just don’t think he’s particularly any worse than what goes on any day in Saudi Arabia,” said Hersh. “They’re all sort of in that same ballpark. And I never saw him as any more of a monster. They were all in this group of people that will kill, kill, kill to survive,” he said.
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