Prison taught Anwar Ibrahim not to harbour anger, besides giving him time to read Shakespeare multiple times, the PKR president and Port Dickson MP said today.
“Prison was tough, demeaning and dehumanising but that’s not all. The prison guards were extremely polite, kind and respectful to me,” he said at the Law Asia Conference in Petaling Jaya today.
“I had many lawyers working pro bono. I had the privilege to read as much as possible…more than most lawyers.
“I would, otherwise, not have been able to finish the complete works of Shakespeare more than five times, with copious notes and other notable works.”
Anwar, who is to succeed Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister based on an agreement between Pakatan Harapan parties, was responding to a question on whether he harboured any anger towards the people who put him in prison.
Anwar said there was no point being angry all the time.
“You won’t enjoy life if you continue to harbour anger.”
“However, in the broad scheme of things, to reform this country on corruption and abuse of power, personal sufferings are not important as the interests of the nation take precedence,” he added.
In the course of his career, Anwar has been behind bars three times. The first time was in 1974 when he was imprisoned under the Internal Security Act for protesting for rural poverty in Baling.
The second time was 1998 for sodomy and abuse of power during Dr Mahathir’s administration.
In 2015, he was again sentenced to prison time after he was found guilty of sodomy under the Najib Razak administration.
Anwar was released last year after a royal pardon.
During his speech at the closing ceremony, Anwar had joked that he had wide knowledge of the law, although he was not trained as a lawyer.
“I have spent 10 years in prison and 20 more in and out of courts, so I know a thing or two about the law although I’m not a lawyer.” – TMI