As Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim prepares on Thursday to take over as prime minister following an unprecedented hung parliament, one of his recent comments serves to sum up the persistence that secured him the job he has eyed for three decades.
"This you need to learn from Anwar Ibrahim - patience, wait a long time, patience," the opposition leader told reporters outside his home a day after Saturday's election gave his progressive bloc the most seats in parliament, but not a majority.Anwar, 75, to be prime minister.
His strained relationship with the veteran leader shaped Anwar's own career, as well as Malaysia's political landscape, for nearly three decades. As opposition leader - both from jail and in parliament - Anwar slowly chipped away at the might of the Barisan Nasional alliance, Malaysia's longest ruling coalition that prioritised the interests of the majority Malays.
For decades, Anwar has called for inclusiveness and an overhaul of the political system in the multi-ethnic country. But they fell out after disagreeing over how to handle the Asian financial crisis. By that time, Anwar had also begun to question corruption in the Mahathir-led UMNO. "This man cannot be allowed to become a leader in a country like Malaysia," Mahathir said about at Anwar at a press conference in 1998.
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