Yet another sex scandal...

Throughout history, sex scandals have rocked empires and more recently political careers. From the 3,000 plus (minimum) concubines of generations of Chinese emperors to the saga of the Clinton Oval Office intern scandal, men of great power have been brought to their knees with stories that are best generated from right below the waist. Sex scandals are a great threat to the morality of society, and that is exactly why they are so devastating and also bear such great damage value when used against your opposition.

This week, the de facto opposition leader of Malaysian politics, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was rocked with yet another sex scandal, or rather accused of it. A porno flick was released involving an actor that was claimed to be Anwar. Anwar and many of his supporters have since come forward to draw a clear line between him and the actor. In fact, he has produced pictures of the alleged star versus him. Other supporters have also come forward and expressed their faith in him.

That such a video has been leaked should not be surprising, especially in the wake of a by-election. Anwar was first alleged of sodomy around 1998, in the reign of the then 2 decade strong Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed. This effectively stopped his creep on the authority of Mahathir´s reign and saw him thrown behind bars for a good 7 years. The fact that the Malaysian High Court overturned this allegation about a decade later didn´t matter. Mahathir had retired from the post of PM and it was now his protégé, Abdullah Badawi´s time to lead. Anwar had been out of the political scene and that had been good for Barisan Nasional, the reigning party. However, if they could pull him out of the spotlight, they definitely couldn´t silence him. In the 2008 General Elections (GE), the opposition won a landslide victory. Even though it was short of the majority needed to form the national government, they had effectively denied BN two-thirds majority and consequently the right to change the constitution as they pleased, of the many evils possible with such a majority. This feat was in no small part due to the fact that Anwar was campaigning actively for the opposition. He had proven that the years spent in prison had not brought him down, but made him ever more so the hero.

This plot shouldn´t come as a shocker, for it is neither the first nor the last of such allegations to smear the image of the opposition. Indeed, this is in succession with a long line of opposition-smearing campaigns, such as another allegation of sodomy against Anwar by an ex-aide. Such acts could very well be disastrous, but if managed well, they can also be used to expose the tactics that BN is using to stay in power. And the harder they try, the more obvious it becomes that Anwar is becoming a stronger threat, in line with the support he is garnering for the opposition. After all, this is just a reaction to his surge of popularity. In fact, we should brace ourselves for more scandalous claims as the GE draws closer, for the stakes are high and the bets are being placed now.