page_title: Anwar Ibrahim
section_title: Career as opposition leader (2008–2015)
hierarchical_section_title: Anwar Ibrahim / Career as opposition leader (2008–2015)
caption_attribution_description: English: P36: Kubang Ikan, Kuala Terengganu. Anwar Ibrahim campaigning.
context_page_description: Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician who has twice served as the 12th and 16th Leader of the Opposition since May 2020 and from August 2008 to March 2015. He is currently the 2nd President of the People's Justice Party and Leader of the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition. Anwar is also the present Member of Parliament for Port Dickson since 2018.
  Anwar himself had served as the Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998 and Finance Minister from 1991 to 1998 when he was a member of United Malays National Organisation, the major party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition then.
  However, he was removed from his post by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and jailed in April 1999. Following his release in 2004, Anwar became the leading figure in the opposition and helped coalesce the opposition parties into the Pakatan Rakyat, which contested the 2008 and 2013 general elections. He was the Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2015.
  Anwar was sentenced to a five-year imprisonment after a second sodomy conviction in 2015.
context_section_description: On 26 August 2008, Anwar won re-election in the Permatang Pauh by-election and returned to Parliament as Leader of the Opposition. He has stated the need for liberalisation, including an independent judiciary and free media, to combat the endemic corruption that he considers pushes Malaysia close to failed state status.
caption: Anwar Ibrahim speaks at an election campaign as opposition leader.
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