Astonishingly, after 25 years of fighting the Barisan Nasional, the same corrupt regime that had imprisoned him “twice” for the same sodomy charges – first under Mahathir Mohamad and later Najib Razak administration – Mr Anwar got his wish granted when he was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister on Nov 24, 2022, forming the Unity Government with the same coalition.

Mr Mahathir, who was already 92 years old in 2016 when he announced his stunning political comeback from retirement to unseat yet another protégé-turned-nemesis Mr Najib, struck an unlikely deal with the still imprisoned Mr Anwar. Mahathir became prime minister again when he led the Opposition Pakatan Harapan alliance to victory in 2018’s landmark elections.

While he fulfilled his promise to free Anwar from prison through a full royal pardon, the ex-premier broke his promise to hand power to his former protégé within 2 years. He would rather let his lieutenant Muhyiddin Yassin, president of Bersatu, snatched power than to see Anwar take over. On Feb 2020, the old man unexpectedly resigned without consulting allies in Pakatan Harapan.

Anwar, president of PKR (People’s Justice Party), was left empty-handed once again. But the backdoor Perikatan Nasional government hastily glued by Muhyiddin with defeated Barisan Nasional and extremist PAS Islamist party was soon plagued with political turmoil. Muhyiddin eventually tasted his own medicine when UMNO-led Barisan withdrew support, forcing him to resign.

Muhyiddin proved to be nothing but an empty vessel, having mismanaged the economy and mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic. His successor, “turtle-egg” Ismail Sabri was equally clueless and incompetent. Malaysia wasted 33 months under both prime ministers that saw sagging economy, bearish stock market, rising costs of living, un-affordable housing and depreciating local currency.

It’s hard to blame Anwar for wanting to take revenge after what Mahathir had done to him, from throwing him into jail over fabricated charges to breaking a promise to hand power after defeating Najib. His youngest daughter, Nurul Hana, was only 6 years old when Mahathir, whom she described as the “wicked man” who had taken her “papa” to prison on the night of Sept 20, 1998.

Even if Anwar can forget and forgive Mahathir for wrongly imprisoned him, and given the infamous “black eye” after assaulted by none other than former police chief Abdul Rahim Noor, the new PM finds it hard to ignore the damages done to the country as a result – either directly or indirectly – of Mahathir. When he took over 5 months ago, he was shocked to discover RM1.5 trillion debt.

Last month, PM Anwar said Mahathir, without specifically mentioning his name, had enriched his family during his administration. The old man went ballistic, demanding a public apology as well as a withdrawal of the remarks or be sued for defamation. It could be a deliberate provocation to lure Mahathir into a long court battle that would reveal all his skeleton in the closet.

Mahathir might think he was still the same strategist grandmaster in his latest brinkmanship game with Anwar. He probably had forgotten the dozens of scandals during his 22 years in power, not to mention he no longer controls the judiciary and anti-corruption agency. Anwar is calling Mahathir’s bluff as going to court will open the Pandora box which the ex-premier tries to protect all his life.

It’s not hard to prove how the ex-premier had enriched his family. Of all the financial scandals, the most personal was the bailout of his son’s Konsortium Perkapalan Berhad in 1998. In fact, the primary reason Mahathir had sacked Anwar was not merely because both men disagreed on the method to tackle the 1997-1998 Asia Financial Crisis plaguing the country.

Then-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar (1993-1998) was seen as Mahathir’s successor – till the Asian crisis exploded, triggered by the collapse of the Thai baht in July 1997, leading to a currency crisis followed by a financial crisis and ultimately economic recession in most countries of the region. Panicked, Mahathir blamed currency speculators, especially George Soros and even the Jews.

On September 1997, Mahathir declared that “currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and immoral”. More damagingly, the prime minister threatened a unilateral ban on foreign exchange purchases unrelated to imports. It only upsets the markets further. Heck, he had even threatened to use repressive measures against anyone who published unfavourable reports about the Malaysian economy.

Investors saw Mahathir’s denial as proof that he had a lot to hide from public scrutiny. The Malaysian Ringgit plunged from RM2.50 to a record RM4.885 per dollar in 1998, before it was pegged at 3.80 per dollar. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) Composite Index (KLCI) dropped from over 1,300 in the first quarter of 1997 to less than 500 in January 1998, to around 300 in August 1998, and to 262 on September 2, 1998.