Storm ahead for Malaysia's Anwar?

By Robin Brant BBC News, Kuala Lumpur

Mr Anwar had been riding high before the allegations emerged

In barely 100 days Anwar Ibrahim's life has gone from an unprecedented high to an all-too familiar low.

In March he led the opposition parties to historic gains at the general election.

The ruling National Front coalition, which has won every election since independence in 1957, was shell-shocked.

The parliamentary opposition has never been so strong. The prime minister is battling to survive.

But four months on, Mr Anwar has taken refuge in a foreign embassy, fearing for his life.

He has been accused of sexual assault, by a 23-year-old man who used to work for him. Sodomy is punishable by 20 years' imprisonment in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Anwar Ibrahim knows what it is like to be labelled a sex offender. He was accused of the same crime 10 years ago.

The charges came after he was sacked from the cabinet and dropped as deputy prime minister and heir apparent. He was jailed, but the conviction was overturned after he had served six years.

He strenuously denied the allegations, calling them a smear campaign.

He claimed he was felled because he had disagreed with the then prime minister about how to deal with the unfolding Asian financial crisis. At the same time he had embarked on an anti-corruption campaign.

Jump forward a decade and he believes this is a repeat of the same tactics.

'Political prisoner'

With Mr Anwar in the ascendancy and the government paralysed by internal disunity, he claims he is again being targeted.

A senior aide told the BBC: "This is a photocopy of the script from 10 years ago".

Supporters of Mr Anwar believe the accusations are politically motivated

The 60-year-old demanded assurances from the government that his life was not in danger before leaving the safety of the Turkish embassy.

Malaysia's deputy prime minister has said that no politician would be harmed - but Mr Anwar is sceptical.

Ten years ago he appeared in court to face charges with a black eye - the result of a beating from the chief of police.

The officer was later sacked for it, but Mr Anwar wants a guarantee that there will be no repeat of the violence this time round.

Supporters of Mr Anwar's Peoples Justice Party (PKR) say he is a reformer fighting for change in a country fraught with corruption and nepotism.

They claim that now, as was the case back in the late 1990s, he is a heroic political prisoner.

But his detractors - and they are not just in the government - accuse him of an unrivalled level of political opportunism.

They worry about what they see as extremist overtones on Islam in the past. Some doubt he has really changed.

Others are wary of him, following claims that big money is being offered to government politicians to jump ship and join the opposition in a new administration.

Government challenge

These are uncertain times in Malaysia.

As in many other nations, people are grappling with rocketing prices for food and fuel. The politicians are being blamed for it.

But Malaysia is going through a particularly fragile period. Events in the last few weeks show how fragile.

Malaysia's prime minister is facing mounting pressure to resign

The price of petrol went up by 41% after the government cut its subsidy.

Two members of parliament from the ruling coalition broke ranks and called for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister.

For months Anwar Ibrahim has been goading the government with claims that a momentous change is about to happen.

He has repeatedly asserted that enough government lawmakers have pledged to break away and join his opposition - bringing the government down. It has not happened, yet.

Malaysia has been a watchword for stability over recent decades. But the past few months have been genuinely unsettling.

At the highest levels in diplomatic circles people have been scratching their heads about what to expect next. Now they have it.

Just as he appeared to be on the brink of challenging for the top job - the position he was set to inherit a decade ago and still wants - Anwar Ibrahim is facing the threat of jail and the political wilderness once more.

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