Anwar bin Ibrahim, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, 1993–98, and Opposition Leader, 2008–15 and since March 2020, was born on 10 August 1947 in the village of Cherok To’kun, on the mainland part of the state of Penang. Anwar completed his schooling at Malay College Kuala Kangsar. From 1967 to 1971, he studied at the University of Malaya; there he was a leader of the National Union of Muslim Students of Malaysia, and the Malay Language Society of University of Malaya. With several fellow activists he founded Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM, or Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement) in August 1971. The best-known figure of ABIM, Anwar became its president in 1974. He held that position for almost eight years, including the 22 months between January 1975 and November 1976 when he was detained without trial as a “threat to national security” following the 1974 student demonstrations in Baling, Kedah. In 1981 he chaired a broad civil society coalition to oppose the Societies Amendment Bill which, among others, was meant to curb ABIM's growing influence.

Anwar left ABIM and joined the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in March 1982. He swiftly and steadily rose in UMNO and held different portfolios in Mahathir Mohamad's various Cabinets. He could claim to be Mahathir's “anointed successor” after UMNO elected him its Deputy President in 1993 and 1996. Anwar was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance when the East Asian financial crisis struck in 1997. But on 2 September 1998, Anwar was dismissed from all official posts, expelled from UMNO the next day, arrested on 20 September, convicted on charges of corruption and sodomy later, and handed a combined jail sentence of 15 years.