IRONIC as it may seem, activists who opposed Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 for sacking and jailing Anwar Ibrahim are now counting on the former prime minister to keep the Reformasi movement alive.

They had once branded him the enemy but are now calling him their saviour and see him as the strongest person to lead the opposition’s push for regime change and reforms.

Reformasi activists Shariffuddin Budin and Badaruddin Ismail said all hope had been lost when Anwar was jailed on sodomy charges again in 2015, which was also when Pakatan Rakyat parties began to split up.

But Dr Mahathir, who is now Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman, has been able to inject new “life” in the opposition’s fight against the BN regime.

“When Pakatan Rakyat split after Anwar’s sentence in 2015, it felt like we had lost a figure of authority who could unify and move everyone. Because not even PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, or PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, could match Anwar’s stature,” Shariffuddin, 58, said.

PAS was then part of the opposition but the pact crumbled after it cut ties with DAP first and then PKR. Around the same time, Dr Mahathir had begun criticising Prime Minister Najib Razak and in 2016, quit Umno and formed Bersatu, which is now part of PH.

“With Anwar gone, we saw a dark path ahead. How could we defend the two states of Selangor and Penang? Because of that we were lost. And during that critical moment, Dr Mahathir appeared and began to organise a mass movement against Najib.”

Dr Mahathir started the momentum with the Citizens’ Declaration, which detailed Najib’s misdeeds and called for his resignation over the sovereign wealth fund he set up, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and the nearly US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) transferred to his personal bank account.

The prime minister had claimed that the money was a personal donation from the Saudi royal family.

Shariffuddin, a PKR member, had been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1998 after mobilising Anwar’s nationwide tour to speak against his sacking. The tour had sparked a massive rally at Dataran Merdeka and Masjid Jamek on September 20 that year. Anwar was arrested the same evening.

Shariffuddin said he and his Reformasi comrades were not against Dr Mahathir for the actions his administration did at the time, but were against the “system” that gave the country’s leaders the power to take those actions.

Now, Dr Mahathir is the strongest person who understood where the country was headed if Najib was not removed, and to do something about.

“This is why I am convinced, he is the one to lead the movement to bring Najib down. We could say that Dr Mahathir is the saviour of the Reformasi movement.”

Reformasi is not dead

In the days after Anwar was arrested under ISA on September 20 in 1998, Shariffuddin was also arrested under the same act for allegedly planning another demonstration.

The Reformasi movement evolved and became a political party, KeAdilan, PKR’s precursor, and Shariffuddin stood on its ticket for the Batang Kali seat in the 1999 general election.

He said the Reformasi movement lives on in the opposition pact as the last 20 years had not seen an end to oppressive laws nor the end of the BN regime.

“Although the ISA was abolished, it was replaced by the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

“And we are still trying to overthrow BN as well as implement comprehensive reforms in Malaysia,” he said.

Fellow activist Badaruddin, 73, also said the Reformasi movement had been against the system that Dr Mahathir used and not against the man himself.

“Dr Mahathir’s tyranny was towards only one person, Anwar. Whereas Najib is robbing the country and the burden is felt by the people.

“He is causing millions of people to suffer. See? We have to differentiate. We fought Dr Mahathir because of the system and not against his person,” said Badaruddin, who was also an ISA detainee under Dr Mahathir’s administration.

Who else to overthrow Najib?

In 2001, Badaruddin was the tenth activist arrested under the ISA after a spate of arrests which include Chua Tian Chang, Ezam Mohd Nor, N. Gobalakrishnan, Dr Badrul Amin Baharum, Lokman Nor Adam, Saari Sungib, Hishamuddin Rais, Raja Petra Kamaruddin and Abdul Ghani Haroon.

Badaruddin’s role in the movement until he was detained was to help other arrested activists obtain legal help and money for bail.

He also coordinated information for pro-Reformasi activist websites then such as Mahazalim, Pemantau, Komentar, Jiwa Merdeka, Reformis Nasional and Mahafiruan.

But Badaruddin said Malaysia was in a worse situation now under Najib and there was no point going over Dr Mahathir’s past sins.

“Faced with Najib, who is oppressing so many Malaysians, why would we prevent someone from opposing him (Najib), even if he was a devil? We must accept this in order to overthrow this tyranny.

“The wounds have healed, now they are just scars.  Why do we have to tear at it again and make it bleed,” he said.

Unlike Shariffuddin, however, Badaruddin has chosen to remain in activism instead of joining a political party.

“My soul is freer and I don’t have to follow party discipline,” he said.

His one disappointment with the outcome of the federal opposition’s push for reforms was the failure to install local government elections in PKR-led Selangor and DAP-led Penang, states which Pakatan Rakyat won in 2008.

“If they are serious about reforms, they can still hold mock elections to vote for councillors,” Badaruddin said.

In 2004, Badaruddin and four former ISA detainees sued the government for their arrests in 2001.

After a 12-year legal battle, the Federal Court directed the government to pay RM5.16 million to the former detainees.

Despite all that they have gone through, both Shariffuddin and Badaruddin say they do not hold any grudges against the PH chairman and the opposition’s candidate for prime minister.

“If we hold a grudge, we would only be troubling ourselves. If we do not hold a grudge, we will have peace of mind. This peace of mind cannot be bought or sold,” said Badaruddin. – February 9, 2018.