People's Justice Party (Malaysia)

The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The party was led by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and increased its parliamentary representation from one seat to 31 seats in the 2008 general election, until the five-year political ban imposed on former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was lifted on 14 April 2008. The party is the second largest party after Democratic Action Party (DAP) in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that formed the government after defeating Barisan Nasional, which had ruled the country for 60 years since independence in the 2018 election.

However, defections from partnering parties caused the PH coalition to lose power after 22 months before finishing its first term, culminating in the 2020 Malaysian political crisis. The PH coalition, which the PKR was part of, returned to power again with Anwar Ibrahim serving as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, although with a smaller majority leading it to form a coalition government with political rivals after the 2022 Malaysian general election.

The party enjoys strong support from urban states such as Selangor, Penang and Johor. It also enjoys huge support from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. It promotes an agenda with a strong emphasis on social justice and anti-corruption, and adopts a platform that seeks to abolish the New Economic Policy and replace it with a policy with an emphasis on a non-ethnic approach in poverty eradication and correcting economic imbalances.

History

Early years

The economy of Malaysia was affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The finance minister at the time, Anwar Ibrahim (also the deputy prime minister), instituted a series of economic reforms and austerity measures in response. These actions were exacerbated when he tabled controversial amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act that sought to increase the powers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad disagreed with these measures and ultimately sacked Anwar from all his posts. This incident and the circumstances in which it happened led to a public outcry in what became known as the '' Reformasi'' movement, but it also resulted in the arrest and subsequent incarceration of Anwar on what many believed to be politically motivated charges of sexual misconduct and corruption.

Foundation

Building on the momentum of the ''Reformasi'', a political movement called the Social Justice Movement ( ms, Pergerakan Keadilan Sosial) was launched on 10 December 1998. It was led by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of Anwar. But, facing difficulties in registering Adil as a political party, the reformasi movement took over a small dormant party formed in 1991, Ikatan Masyarakat Islam Malaysia, and relaunched it as the National Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Nasional) on 4 April 1999, just in time to take part in the 1999 general elections. The party has been noted as having rough similarities with the now-defunct multi-racial social democratic Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia. The party was joined by the Democratic Action Party, the Malaysian People's Party and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party in a broadly based electoral alliance known as Barisan Alternatif to take on the ruling BN coalition in the 1999 general elections.

Arrests

Between 27 and 30 September 1999, seven activists, including Keadilan leaders; Vice-President Tian Chua, N. Gobalakrishnan, Youth leader Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Fairus Izuddin and Dr Badrul Amin Baharun; were arrested and as a result prevented from contesting in the elections. Further arrests were made on 10 April 2001 and those arrested were subsequently charged and incarcerated under the Internal Security Act. They became known as the Reformasi 10.

1999 general election

The party entered the campaign with many of its key leaders under arrest and as a result saw it winning only five parliamentary seats in the elections despite gaining 11.67% of the total votes cast. The Barisan Alternatif as a whole gained 40.21% of the total votes cast with PAS gaining 27 seats and DAP gaining ten seats.

Merger with ''Parti Rakyat Malaysia''

The post election period saw negotiations between KeADILan and ''Parti Rakyat Malaysia'' on a possible merger. Despite some opposition in both parties to the move, a 13-point Memorandum of Understanding was eventually signed by the two parties on 5 July 2002. On 3 August 2003, the new merged entity was officially launched and assumed its current name. Somehow, as PRM had yet to be de-registered by the authorities, the remained dissidents convened a National Congress in Johor Bahru and elected a new Executive Committee led by former PRM youth leader, Hassan Abdul Karim to resume political activities on 17 April 2005.

2004 general election

As the new amendments to the party constitution had yet to be approved by the Registrar of Societies, candidates from PRM contested the 2004 general election using the symbol of the old National Justice Party. The party fared poorly in the elections and only managed to retain one parliamentary seat, Permatang Pauh which is held by Dr Wan Azizah, despite winning 9% of the popular vote. The poor showing was later attributed to malapportionment and gerrymandering in the delineation of constituencies, with one estimate suggesting that on average, a vote for the BN government was worth 28 times the vote of a Keadilan supporter.

Anwar Ibrahim freed

On 2 September 2004, in a decision by the Federal Court, Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy conviction was overturned and he was freed. This unexpected turn of events came timely for KEADILAN which was facing flagging morale due to its dismal performance in the elections.

In December 2005 PKR organised its second national congress. Among the motions passed was the New Economic Agenda that envisioned a non-racial economic policy to replace the race-based New Economic Policy. PKR managed a breakthrough into Sarawak politics in May 2006. In Sarawak state elections, Dominique Ng, a lawyer and activist, won in the Padungan constituency in Kuching, a majority Chinese locale. KEADILAN lost narrowly in Saribas, a Malay-Melanau constituency by just 94 votes. Sarawak is a traditional BN stronghold. PKR has also pursued an aggressive strategy of getting key personalities from within and outside politics. In July 2006, Khalid Ibrahim, former CEO of Permodalan Nasional Berhad and Guthrie, was appointed as Treasurer of the PKR.

2008 general election

In the 2008 elections, PKR won 31 seats in Parliament, with the DAP and PAS making substantial gains as well with 28 seats and 23 seats respectively. In total, the taking of 82 seats by the opposition to BN's 140 seats made it the best performance in Malaysian history by the opposition, and denied BN the two-thirds majority required to make constitutional changes in the Dewan Rakyat.

PKR also successfully contested the state legislative elections which saw the loose coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS forming coalition governments in the states of Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. The offices of the Menteri Besar of Selangor and the Deputy Chief Minister of Penang were held by KEADILAN elected representatives, Khalid Ibrahim and Mohd Fairus Khairuddin, respectively.

Anwar's return to politics

On 14 April 2008, Anwar celebrated his official return to the political stage, as his ban from public office expired a decade after he was sacked as deputy prime minister. One of the main reasons the opposition seized a third of parliamentary seats and five states in the worst ever showing for the BN coalition that has ruled for half a century, was due to him leading at the helm. A gathering of more than 10,000 supporters greeted Anwar in a rally welcoming back his return to politics. In the midst of the rally, police interrupted Anwar after he had addressed the rally for nearly half an hour and forced him to stop the gathering.

Malaysia's government intensified its efforts on 6 March to portray opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim as political turncoats, days ahead of Malaysian general election, 2008 on 8 March that would determine whether he posed a legitimate threat to the ruling coalition. Campaigning wrapped up 7 March for general elections that would see gains for Malaysia's opposition amid anger over race and religion among minority Chinese and Indians. Malaysians voted on 8 March 2008 in parliamentary elections. Election results showed that the ruling government suffered a setback when it failed to obtain two-thirds majority in parliament, and five out of 12 state legislatures were won by the opposition parties. Reasons for the setback of the ruling party, which had retained power since the nation declared independence in 1957, were the rising inflation, crime and ethnic tensions.

Permatang Pauh by-election

Malaysia's government and ruling coalition declared defeat in a landslide victory in the by-election by Anwar Ibrahim. Muhammad Muhammad Taib, information chief of the United Malays National Organisation which leads the BN coalition stated: ''Yes of course we have lost . . . we were the underdogs going into this race''. Malaysia's Election Commission officials announced Anwar won by an astounding majority against Arif Shah Omar Shah of National Front coalition and over Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's UMNO. Reuters reported that according to news website Malaysiakini, Anwar Ibrahim had won with a majority of 16,210 votes. He had won 26,646 votes, while BN's Arif Omar won 10,436 votes. Anwar's People's Justice Party's spokeswoman Ginie Lim told BBC
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