WHILE September 2 remains a sad day in Anwar Ibrahim’s memory, the PKR president-elect said it was time to move on.

On this day in 20 years ago, Anwar was sacked as deputy prime minister by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was also prime minister then.

“We have to move on. It was tragic and sad, and difficult for me, my family, friends and colleagues. But I think we have to move on. 

“The political scenario has changed. We have now established comradeship and a working relationship with Dr Mahathir. He is working well for the country.

“That should be the focus. We have to save Malaysia,” he said after the Penang PKR’s divisional annual general meeting in Prai today.

After he was sacked, Anwar began touring the country, giving speeches before being arrested on September 20. He was beaten in prison, tried for corruption and sodomy, and jailed.

He was jailed twice for sodomy until he was finally given a royal pardon this May after Pakatan Harapan, now led by his former nemesis Dr Mahathir, took over the federal government.

On Dr Mahathir appointing former inspector-general of police Rahim Noor as a peace talks mediator between Thailand and Muslim rebels in the country, Anwar said it was the prime minister’s call.

It was reported that when Anwar was arrested in 1998, Rahim was the man who gave him the infamous black eye.

“I have said that we can understand that the people who have seen, witnessed and experienced such atrocities find it painful.

“But I also acknowledge the fact that space should be given to Dr Mahathir as the prime minister to decide what is best. But that would not stop people from expressing their displeasure,” he said.

Anwar said some would dismiss this as a personal matter for him, but he would disagree.

“We are talking about an IGP, of criminal action…not just the Anwar case. There is a lesson to be learnt here by others.”

Earlier during the opening of the divisional meeting, Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah, briefly brought up the issue in her speech. 

The PKR vice-president said her father was handcuffed and arrested on September 20, 1998, and on the same night, was beaten up by Rahim.

“We must learn from history and remember it. If anyone tries to erase it, we have to be the ones with courage to speak up… We cannot compromise on this.”

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in his speech also addressed the matter, recounting events from Anwar’s sacking to his arrest on September 20. 

“That night, Anwar was taken to Bukit Aman. A Royal Commission of Inquiry found that it was Rahim who punched him.”

He said agreed with Nurul Izzah that though the past cannot be changed, we must learn from it. 

“If there are reservations about Rahim’s appointment, we have to understand that it was because of the terrible event. We didn’t even know if Anwar was alive that day. 

“What happened was not the doing of an ordinary person, but the IGP,” the domestic trade and consumers affairs minister said. – September 2, 2018.