Anwar Ibrahim speaks at LSE

The Malaysian Opposition leader Datuk Anwar Ibrahim spoke at the LSE in London yesterday and it was an incredibly well attended event. Most of the audience of over 1000 were must have been Malaysian students, most of whom would have been young teenagers when Anwar was dep PM of Malaysia.

But he has a following of youth, even though he has already been in prison due to trumped-up charges,for six years, later squashed and now once again in court, on trial for similar charges.

He spoke on Religion and politics in a divided world, but only for about 15 minutes as he took questions for another 40 minutes. I think he had not prepared long for the speech but his Q&A was great and I even had the chance to ask a question.

The man is very impressive with his knowledge and arabic quotations from The Koran. He is intelligent, quick, witty and has charisma. He loves being with young people and you can tell they like him a lot. No other Malaysian politician could gather such a crowd, not even the present UMNO PM.

Anwar has a world view and knows people across the globe. He mentioned he had come from a meeting the same day with former US VP Al Gore and former Irish President, Mary Robinson, whom who praised very highly.

Should his present trial end in his conviction and imprisonment by one judge there will be a massive outcry across the planet and indeed civil war in Malaysia. The man has changed the nature of opposition politics in Malaysia. He is only a small jump from being PM at the next election and is deeply feared by the present Govt and its supporters. For UMNO to lose power after decades would be a key event for them and all Malaysia. But times are changing and Anwar is the man of the moment.