Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim believes he could topple Malaysia's ruling coalition immediately if he wanted to because enough government lawmakers have agreed to defect to his side.
Anwar made the claim Monday (14 Apr) after police halted his speech at a rally to celebrate his formal return to politics. Organizers estimated 40,000 people gathered to hear Anwar's first public speech in Malaysia since last month's general elections.
"Now I can say for the first time that we are ready to govern the country," Anwar told reporters. "We have the numbers ... Some (government lawmakers) have had discussions with us, but we are not in a hurry."
Anwar stressed the opposition's main aim was to carry out reforms, ranging from cleaning up the judiciary to ending corruption and ensuring racial harmony.
He said the opposition needed "a comfortable majority" to carry out the reforms. He gave no indication of how long that might take, but said he was willing to wait.
The former deputy prime minister spearheaded a three-party opposition alliance to spectacular gains in March 8 elections, winning an unprecedented 82 of Parliament's 222 seats. It also won control of legislatures in five of Malaysia's 13 states.
Opposition supporters rallied at a sports field in Kuala Lumpur on Monday for a countdown until midnight, when a legal ban that prevented Anwar from holding political office expired.
The celebration came to an abrupt halt when scores of policemen interrupted Anwar as he addressed the rally because he had not sought a police permit. Supporters carrying banners that read, "Anwar for prime minister," jeered the police.
Political pundits have said Anwar's ambition is to become prime minister, a post that once seemed within his reach when he was deputy to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s.
However, Mahathir sacked him in 1998 in a power struggle. Anwar was expelled from the ruling party, and convicted of sodomy and corruption _ charges he said were politically motivated.
Anwar was released from prison in 2004 after the sodomy conviction was overturned, but the corruption conviction barred him from holding political office until 15 Apr 2008.
Anwar could not contest the general elections because of the ban, but he was expected to contest a by-election to gain entry to Parliament and allow him to challenge Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is under pressure from factions within his own party to quit.
Abdullah has said he will eventually hand over power to his deputy Najib Razak, but not immediately. (By VIJAY JOSHI/ AP)
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