00:00The Prawaja Steel fiasco, which caused billions in losses, led then-Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir
00:07Mohammed to view his deputy Anwar Ibrahim as a clear and present danger, according to
00:12journalist Leslie Lopez in his book, The Siege Within.
00:17Their relationship deteriorated after the Asian Wall Street Journal ran a story in 1996
00:22about Prawaja's massive losses.
00:25Anwar stormed into Mahathir's office with a copy of the report, reminding him that the
00:29government couldn't cover up the Prawaja fiasco, to which Mahathir accused him of leaking
00:34it, a claim Anwar denied two months later.
00:37In the following months, Mahathir's allies convinced him that Anwar was a threat.
00:43Prawaja Steel, a symbol of Mahathir's industrialization policy, incurred $2.5 billion in losses by
00:501995.
00:51In 2002, Mahathir had admitted that Prawaja's downfall was due to mismanagement and fraud.
00:57Lopez writes that Anwar, viewed as a threat to Mahathir's political and economic system,
01:02especially after opposing public bailouts from Mahathir's allies during the 1997 financial
01:07crisis, had to be brought down at all costs to preserve Mahathir's Malaysia-incorporated
01:13model.
01:14Anwar was sacked in 1998, expelled from UMNO, arrested, and later convicted of corruption.
01:21The Siege Within is currently on sale and can be purchased online at Kinokuniya, Litbooks
01:26and Amazon Singapore.
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