Anwar's book on Asian renaissance reappears - after 20 years

A book titled "Gelombang Kebangkitan Asia" by Port Dickson MP Anwar Ibrahim has been on sale again after it was shelved twenty years ago.

Copies of the book were kept in a storeroom at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) since the 1998 Reformasi days.

According to a bookseller at the Parliament lobby today, they are selling like hotcakes.

The seller who refused to be identified said the books were taken out of the store and sold to the public following Anwar's victory at Port Dickson's by-election and his return to the Parliament.

"We thought that now Anwar is an MP and he has joined the government, it means this book should be accessible to the public.

"These are the first edition from 1997, so they are rare. I brought about 50 copies, and now only 15 copies left," he told the media.

The 197-page book was launched a year before Anwar was sacked as the deputy prime minister and deputy Umno president.

In 1999, it was reported that DBP burned about 3,000 out of 14,000 copies of the book under the pretext that there was "error" in its publication.

The book was first published in English by the Times Edition Pte Ltd in 1996, and was titled "The Asian Renaissance".

DBP then took over the printing and producing rights to be published a year later.

During the Port Dickson by-election recently, Anwar said he was touched when a pre-launch of the book in Tamil was organised.

The book contains Anwar's thoughts and philosophy on the economy, and includes his articles and speeches throughout his career as the finance minister and deputy prime minister from 1991 to 1996. -Mkini