By Joceline Tan 

IT had been a political roller coaster-ride for Malaysians in the recent few weeks, and when news of opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim's arrest broke out around lunchtime last Wednesday, some must have felt the roller coaster was spiralling into a nosedive.

The general reaction when they heard that Datuk Seri Anwar was arrested by security personnel in balaclavas was:

Not again!

Just a day earlier, Mr Anwar had shared the stage with Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek in a highly publicised debate on Malaysia's fuel price hike. Both men did well, but Mr Anwar's maturity and charisma came through and he was more persuasive with his argument.

Now a new storm cloud had burst.

The police brought the unnecessary flak upon themselves. The masked personnel among the officers who took him in were all too reminiscent of the controversial arrest in 1998.

But barring that, the police have actually been treading very carefully on this case because they are aware of the public cynicism about the police force and they know the Malay sentiment about Mr Anwar.

Tan Sri Musa Hassan's baggage is that he was the investigating officer in the 1998 case. But he is the Inspector General of Police today and, from most accounts, he wants to conduct this case by the book.

Likewise, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar - a seasoned politician and lawyer, astute about the power of the press.

Mr Syed Hamid knows the special hold Mr Anwar has on the foreign media and he has engaged the foreign press at every opportunity.

He knows all too well that each time the networks replay old footage of masked security personnel bursting into Mr Anwar's former Damansara Heights home, the government?s ratings slip a notch.

"Contrary to what some people may think, we have been moving very cautiously... We know we are grappling with a politically explosive situation. But what really irks me is that a fairly straightforward police report has been turned and twisted by accusations and politicking," said Mr Syed Hamid.

But the latest episode in the sodomy allegations against Mr Anwar has driven home the stark reality that the battle for his political survival and personal reputation has reached a new and more urgent level.

His battle is not just about fighting off allegations by a 23-year-old university dropout.

Public perception and sympathy still favour him but with a full-scale police investigation going on, Mr Anwar and his team will also have to grapple with the law and legal procedures.

The police are now asking him to submit to DNA tests. The next week or so will see a tug-of-war over this issue as Mr Anwar is clearly not going to bow to the request without a fight.

After a jam-packed press conference on the afternoon of his release, Mr Anwar, boosted by some rest and a painkiller injection, settled down with party insiders and friends for a discussion while a vigilante force of Malay silat exponents guarded the grounds of his home.

"He related in detail what had happened. He told us not everyone in the Government is happy about the developments. We know, for instance, that many (ruling-party) Umno MPs are worried about the political costs of the issue and there is no gain for them with images of Anwar's dilemma flashed all over the world," said Tumpat MP and long-time friend Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar.

But regardless of whether Mr Anwar is innocent or implicated, his coalition's ambition to form the Government is pretty much shattered for now.

Said Mr Kamaruddin, who is also secretary-general of the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pas): "It affects our plans, that's for certain, but Anwar is starting to draw the kind of crowds we have not seen for some time at our ceramah... If it is fated that Anwar's career has to end, we are adamant that it should not end this way."

- THE STAR/ANN
myp@sph.com.sg

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