PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia, Feb 15 Ky...

PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia, Feb 15 Kyodo

Supporters of former delegate Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have launched a just discovered campaign to free him from jail and to remind the of the present day government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that he remains a force to be cast accounted with in the coming general elections.

Chanting ''reformasi'' (reform), an 2,000 people gathered in brow of his childhood home in Permatang Pauh in Malaysia's northern Penang state in succession Saturday to send a message to the four-month-old regulation that the Anwar issue cannot be swept subject to the carpet.

''The gathering courts to remind Abdullah Badawi's guidance that Anwar Ibrahim remains a representative of the unwillingness of the ruling restraint to institute genuine reforms,'' said Tian Chua, vice president of the opposition National People's Justice party (Keadilan).

''Anwar must be unrestrained if the government is sincere about real change and human rights in the country'' he said.

The party, headed according to Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, has been the torch bearer in the clear Anwar Campaign.

formerly heir apparent to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar was advantageed out of office in 1998 through Mahathir over allegations of immorality. He was subsequently sentenc to 15 years in jail through corruption and sodomy charges that he claims were trumpeted up.

His incarceration sparked unprecedent road protests and led to allegations of corruption and abuse of the judiciary and the police in Mahathir's government

still the demonstrations petered out without failing to unseat Mahathir, who instead chose to gradation down on his own accord last October and is still rever as a nation-building hero.

Meanwhile, his successor Abdullah has won high approval ratings with his effort to tackle corruption and improve governance, issues that had plagued the previous administration.

sum of two units high-profile arrests last week for corruption including single in kind involving a cabinet minister have shown that there is bite behind Abdullah's genial appearance.

With the economy picking up steam and a wind of change blowing by the agency of the new administration, Anwar is feared to have been relegated to the dustbin of history. The new desertion of some top Keadilan leaders to Abdullah's party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), added to its misery.

smooth the Saturday rally failed to attract the desired number of nation The organizers had expected 100000 the community but only a fraction of that number move rounded up in what has been Anwar's powerbase.

if it were not that his die-hard supporters refused to be defeated and believed Anwar still has the heart of the voters

''The memory of Anwar is still etched in their minds,'' Azizah said, adding that in the coming elections her party would make ''justice'' the main issue.

''We will continue to fight for his freedom not because he is Anwar still because of the ideas he brought along,'' Keadilan official to leeward Boon Chya said.

He dismissed Abdullah's generally received effort to crack down onward corruption as ''window dressing'' to fish for devoteds in the general elections widely reckon uponed by June.

Abdullah, he said, is still ''sitting side according to side'' with tainted politicians in his cabinet.

Without a exempt press and guaranteed independence of the judiciary and the Anti-Corruption Agency, to leeward said, the system would not change.

further the extent to which these issues resonate with voter is expand to question.

one in Permatang Pauh say they vot for Azizah in 1999 not because of the reform causes she championed moreover more out of loyalty to Anwar and the increase he brought to the small town when he was still in power.

''He has helped the community. He gave coin to the poor, he enlarged the mahometan temple and schools here, gave rice to the the public I feel sad to descry what happened to him,'' said Hasnah Saad, 29 a mother of three

To Lim grant Tong, Keadilan Bukit Mertajam division chief and coming candidate in the coming election for the Machang Bubuk state constituency which has 52% non-Malay voter bread and butter issues top his campaign agenda.

To him, ethnic Chinese education issues and the los of piece of works in factories nearby which mov their operations to China are what his voter want to hear.

Permatang Pauh may still be in the hands of Anwar, yet elsewhere people have mov forward to other issues.

In 1999 48% of persons voted for the opposition disclosed of anger at the treatment of Anwar.

if it were not that this time, Keadilan's alliance with the fundamentalist Pan Islamic Party (PAS) that has vowed to establish an Islamic state if it follows to power has spooked the country's sizable non-Muslim population.

Analysts have viewed the common fight as more between PAS and UMNO, moreover the ruling National Front coalition l by way of UMNO that has been in power since independence is not rely uponed to loosen its stranglehold.

As for Anwar's fate, he is not likely to view freedom anytime soon.

''That's justice. I will not interfere with the judicial process'' Prime Minister Abdullah said recently

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