New Claims Surface About Anwar's Saudi Connections

Some time ago, we mentioned a new blog that we'd discovered, the "I" Files. It purports to be the untold story of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, recounted through the eyes and records of mat salleh foreigners living here -- Brits, Americans, and others, some of them corporate and others with intelligence services. We found it an interesting read when we first happened on it, but did not know where it was going.

At the time of our first writing, we had several unanswered questions about the site -- the author's true identity, why he was telling his story now and not at GE12 when Anwar was arguably at the peak of his power in Opposition, and why all of this interest in Anwar.

We do not yet know the answers to these questions. We have, however, found the story so far a gripping one.

In the time since our last review, the author, Jonathan Smith, has added two new chapters. The first purports to be the story of someone else -- a fellow on his way out of Malaysia in about 1980 or so, returning to London after years here. His story continues the cloak-and-dagger atmosphere set up in the prologue, and appears to be the hunt for the truth behind a young Anwar.

What he finds is a man who in his early youth was affable and not committed to any ideal, who was radicalised attending university. Without anything in particular at his core, he fills it with extremism -- radical, left-wing politics, and radical, Saudi-style Islam.

Through apparently eyewitness interviews and document reviews over the course of a hectic two weeks, he uncovers an Anwar many of us never suspected, an Anwar who wants Malaysia to be more like Saudi Arabia than a tolerant and moderate nation. Indeed, the "I" Files says that the Saudis were grooming and even bankrolling Anwar from his earliest days.

"The Umno kid who went beyond PAS," in the words of one witness. The main character in this chapter is so shaken by what he finds after two grueling weeks that he leaves KL and does not particularly wish to return.

The context for that chapter -- continued in the second -- is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's attempts to lure Anwar into the Umno fold from his student radical days, as a way to counter PAS. It is there that the second chapter picks up, and the narrator tells us of his first exposure to Malaysia.

The pace is more relaxed here, but the narrator recounts Dr M's story in his early days as Prime Minister, emphasising the challenges he faced and why he worked so hard to bring Anwar into Government.

This chapter also fleshes out why the Saudis were so keen on Anwar. Faced with a resurgent Iran and needing true believers, they used Anwar to establish an anchor here, and liberally funded him and his radical efforts as he came into Government. It explains why Anwar, who everyone thought would be joining PAS, accepted Dr M's offers instead and became an Umno man.

And it suggests that Anwar used Tun Mahathir to his own ends.

The story still remains one of rumour and fact mixed, and the narrator is unabashed in relaying analysis and guesswork as part of the tale. Certainly, he seems aware of ground-level Malaysian history of the time in a way very few foreigners would be.

He also appears to be having quite the time telling the story as well. And he is promising to publish documents about Anwar too.

The next chapter, according to the site, will be on Anwar's time as Education Minister. We are keenly anticipating it. - the Choice