BOOK REVIEW | Anwar’s long tumultuous road to become PM

BOOK REVIEW | For over 20 years, Australian criminal lawyer Mark Trowell has followed the trials and tribulations of Anwar Ibrahim before he finally became Malaysia’s 10th prime minister.

Anwar Triumphs (2023) is his fourth book on this politician, after Sodomy II: The Trial of Anwar Ibrahim (2012), The Prosecution of Anwar Ibrahim: The Final Play (2015), and Anwar Returns: The Final Twist (2018).

Trowell began writing Anwar Triumphs right after the 15th general election when the Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan could not form a government on their own and had to make allies out of old foes to form a coalition government.

The book is a mixture of interviews, a flashback to Anwar’s sodomy trial, and Trowell’s observation of politics in Malaysia. It may seem a little all over the place in terms of the presentation of the main topic, but it works.

The facts are laid out for the reader. It is up to them to draw their own conclusion.

In an interview featured in the book, Anwar spoke about...