Ailing Anwar cheered by well-wishers - The Guardian

By John Aglionby, South-east Asia correspondent

Thousands of supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's newly freed former deputy prime minister, went to Kuala Lumpur airport late on Saturday night to bid him farewell when he left for emergency spinal surgery in Germany.

Mr Anwar, 57, arrived in Munich yesterday and will have an operation today to cure his spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the gaps in the spinal column that results in extreme pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots.

Observers and officials of Mr Anwar's People's Justice party (Keadilan) said the spontaneous demonstration by 4,000 people in Kuala Lumpur proved that the charismatic former political prisoner was likely to become an important figure in the pro-democracy movement, and mocked claims by the ruling coalition that he was an insignificant political force.

Carrying party flags and placards of support, the demonstration was by far the largest since Mr Anwar was freed after the overturning of his sodomy conviction last Thursday.

Cries of, "Long live Anwar" and "Reformasi", the slogan of the reform movement Mr Anwar led after being sacked in 1998 until he was arrested a few months later.

[More at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/06/malaysia]