Malaysia's parliament is due to sit this week, more than one month after snap elections, which saw the government stumble in the face of voter discontent.

The government and its leadership are in a vulnerable state, and facing a strong and vocal opposition led by Dr Anwar Ibrahim.

Dr Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister ten years ago and served six years jail for corruption. He was released at the same time his conviction for sodomy was overturned.

So if Anwar Ibrahim is preparing a comeback in Malaysian politics just how is he planning to do it? Jim Middleton spoke to Malaysia's de-facto opposition leader in Kuala Lumpur.

Jim Middleton, Presenter: Anwar Ibrahim, welcome to 'Asia Pacific Focus'.

Anwar Ibrahim: Thank you.

Jim Middleton: Let's go back just a little. Why did the Government do so badly in the elections and you do so well?

Anwar Ibrahim: Well, thank you. In spite of the fact that the elections were quite fraudulent and we have established now conclusively, but we perform extremely well and as I have said, I will reiterate that without the cancellation [in] indelible ink, we would probably have a simple majority in Parliament. But they did - the Government, Barisan Nasional Government - did badly because they are perceived to be arrogant, blatantly corrupt, incompetent. And that's clear from the mandate of the people.

Jim Middleton: Despite your success as you noted, you do still need quite a few seats if you are to take power. Why do you think that's possible?

Anwar Ibrahim: Well, it is possible firstly, because many of the members of parliament who had won now realise that the mood and the general support of Malaysians are with the Pakatan Rakyat. Secondly, those in Sabah and Sarawak have never been known to have traditional loyalties to the National Front or UMNO Governments, they represent the Sabah sentiment, the tribes which has been marginalised.

"The issue is when do we move?

In our program it's clear that while supporting market economy and growth, we will not ignore the marginalised groups, the poor of all races. And I think this, coupled with the support that we have in the peninsula, not only among the UMNO but also the other Coalition members, Chinese and Indians, then we have, in fact, I have said two weeks ago that we have already the numbers. The issue is when do we move? And I would only, I would be prepared to move only when we feel and we know for a fact that we have a comfortable majority.

Jim Middleton: So you are prepared to be patient, to play a bit of a waiting game, are you?

Anwar Ibrahim: Yes, before hopefully not too long because I think the economy is paramount. It is still dwindling. Sluggish compared to the neighbours. Politically, it's still unsettled. Therefore, we owe it to the Malaysians and also to improve the economy by moving faster.

Jim Middleton: You alluded earlier to the negotiations that you'll need to win support to gain power, you will need to offer money and influence to sway people. That's not exactly democratic, is it?

Anwar Ibrahim: We made very clear if any of the prospective members of parliament have any indication or interest to get funds, then the deal is off. There is no reason why friends from UMNO, knowing UMNO is dwindling, is losing support, will not opt for a reform agenda.

"The mandate given was clear."

There is no reason why, Sabah and Sarawaks knowing our position on the royalty, to concern ourselves over the issue of education, health and public welfare for the marginalised poor, ignored for the last four and a half decades. No reason why they should not support us. The mandate given was clear. If they talk about ethics and morality, let me tell them that the whole conduct of the elections was fraudulent was unethical and immoral in the first place. We would have won, there's no reason for us to even negotiate.

So the issue now is, the general Malaysian public are convinced we had the mandate and we want to pursue that. If there's any deal beyond that we make it clear - we draw the line clearly - no issue of corruption and bribery, which has been the practice of the ruling Coalition for now.

Jim Middleton: What about the other major opposition party, PAS, can you take power without their support?

Anwar Ibrahim: No, the Coalition of Pakatan Opposition is Keadilan, the Justice Party, the Islamic Party, PAS, and the Democratic Action Party. Now we have had a series of meetings, we have now…have established a more formidable alliance. We have spelt out the agenda. No issue of having Malaysia to transform itself to become something else other than a democratic liberal country with constitutional safeguards and guarantees, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, rule of law, free market economy and distribute of justice, and that has been clear.

Jim Middleton: PAS has reversed positive discrimination for Malays in the state it now controls. In your view, is that a good idea?

"We must cater for all Malaysians."

Anwar Ibrahim: No, generally the policy, our policy is moving towards a new Malaysian economic agenda. We will not, of course, ignore the importance of the marginalised and the poor, particularly among the Malays to be protected, but the whole approach has got to be new, a new approach [has] got to be introduced. Meaning we must cater for all Malaysians, and this is the policy now being adopted by PAS and the DAP in Penang and Keadilan in Selangor.

Jim Middleton: Do you expect any government of which you're part of to be more Islamic or less, if I could put it that way?

Anwar Ibrahim: Well, it is, um... to me not very relevant question. I mean, Islamic in the sense that I pray and don't drink, yes. But I'm no position to compel others to pray or not to drink. Now, it is Islamic in the sense that we will allow conduct of classes at the mosque but we'll also allow for the mushrooming of churches and temples to go uninterrupted or harassed by the administration, as we observed here in the past. No question of demolition of temples, or Hindu temples. That is in a sense to my mind more Islamic because it's supposed to be more just and fair.

Jim Middleton: What about the issue of Sharia law. Where do you stand on that question?

Anwar Ibrahim: There must be room, and allowance for people to dispute and complain including Muslims. But no way we will allow non-Muslims to be educated by the Sharia court and the non-Muslims must be allowed and be given the freedom to be educated in the civil court. Sharia law is only insofar as Muslim family law ….and in some issues that the Muslims are comfortable with, without transgressing into the rest.

Jim Middleton: Going back all those years, looking at it from the perspective of 2008, why do you think Dr Mahathir moved against you when you were both in government all those years ago?

Anwar Ibrahim: The issue then was corruption, nepotism, cronyism. The issue then was more good governance and accountability, and there are things that I was not prepared to do including bail outs for his children, which I wouldn't want to go because I think generally Malaysians are quite aware of that. Now, of course, he's going to say that I'm pro-Jew and fit to become only Prime Minister of Israel so I see he's forgiven and I have no malice towards him. Let him go and lament whatever he wants.

Jim Middleton: You've said that the Mahathir regime - you said it just then, in fact - was corrupt, but weren't you part of it? Weren't you part of the government?

Anwar Ibrahim: Yes, but if you are aware, Jim, you will realise that in 1997 I introduced a tough legislation, Anti-Corruption Act, that was one of the major issue. Why did I introduce that? Why did I push hard? Studying the Commission, the Corruption Commission in Hong Kong? Precisely because I realise, as Finance Minister that corruption is getting to be more endemic, and so many awards and contracts being given to Prime Minister and families and when I introduced that, that became a major battle between me and the leadership. One of the main reasons why I wasn't tolerated.

"To suggest that nothing was done is not true."

So to suggest that nothing was done is not true. Look at my position on the independence of the judiciary. I even made a remark in front of the chief judge that you have to understand the law, not to know the judge.

Jim Middleton: What would you say to those people who suggest a Government headed by you would simply be UMNO in another guise?

Anwar Ibrahim: I'm a liberal
democrat. People can assume things. But we are here committed to an agenda and there's no turning back. Six years in prison also taught me a lot. You mature in the process. And you know the mandate given is mandate for change. It is not a mandate to repeat the excesses of the UMNO. There's no question about democratic Malaysia, no question about independent judiciary, no question about a free media and a just policy, economic, social policy for all Malaysians.

Jim Middleton: You had your differences with Dr Mahathir over economic policy, he chose to ignore the IMF, for example, but still succeeded in insulating Malaysia from the Asian economic meltdown. So he did have a degree of success, didn't he?

Anwar Ibrahim: This was just an excuse, a pretext by Mahathir to deflect from the stench in the backyard of massive corruption and rigging. How do you measure success ultimately? You measure by the mid-term, economic performance. And you know, after that, after the initial success, as compared to Indonesia, which was a very poor example.

Indonesia, with the reserves, with the economic strength, with the investments, was far below Malaysia at that time. So to compare is of course apple to orange. But what is important in my mind, all these countries Korea has now surpassed us, Thailand has been able to be stabilised, able to stablise the economy. In Indonesia, in some ways surpassed in terms of foreign investment, in terms of getting more confidence. Malaysia has not been able to move beyond that.

Jim Middleton: You mentioned the economy just then and also earlier in the interview, what in your view is the prescription, what is the way forward for Malaysia at this juncture?

Anwar Ibrahim: Now, I reiterate, first, we have lost our competitiveness. In the 1990s with all the problems, excesses, that you did allude to, Malaysia was still number one in terms of foreign investments, number one in terms of growth, number one in terms of competitiveness in Asia. Now, in terms of foreign direct investments, growth, and competitiveness we have lost.

"We are worse off in terms of independent judiciary and corruption."

We are worse off in terms of free media index, we are worse off in terms of independent judiciary and corruption, which means we have to change. Now, we have to compete successfully in attracting foreign investments. Malaysia is not an obscure country they could just move on independently with domestic investments. We require a lot of support and generate enough confidence among our neighbours, friends in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America and China, to be able to see Malaysia as an attractive destination for foreign investments.

Jim Middleton: Dr Anwar, thank you very much for your time and I hope we'll talk again soon.

Anwar Ibrahim: Thank you.