Dato Seri’ Anwar Ibrahim will travel to Melbourne on December 4th and 5th to speak at Monash University and at the Parliament of World’s Religions. During his visit he is expected to hold meetings with Federal Ministers, Members of Parliament and various community leaders.

Anwar Ibrahim is currently Leader of the Opposition and was recently appointed as Economic Advisor to Selangor, the most prosperous of Malaysia’s 13 states. In the 12th Malaysian General last year he forged a political coalition called the Pakatan Rakyat which scored massive victories, breaking the ruling party’s stranglehold in Parliament and gaining control of six of Malaysia’s fourteen states and territories. In the December 2009 issue of Foreign Policy magazine he was listed among the top 100 Global Thinkers.

Anwar Ibrahim was Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1993-1998. An ardent supporter of freedom and democracy and the most vocal critic against corruption, he was dismissed from office in 1998 and imprisoned by then Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed after a trial widely believed to have been politically motivated. After serving six years in solitary confinement the Malaysian Courts overturned his conviction. He assumed teaching positions at Oxford, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown University, lecturing on issues of democracy and contemporary politics in Southeast Asia. He is also on the Advisory Board of the International Crisis Group.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

The Parliament of World Religions is a global gathering of religious leaders that takes place every five years. This year over 10,000 participants will travel to Melbourne representing the major world religions. At the Parliament of World Religions Anwar Ibrahim will be speaking on December 4th at 2:30 PM on the panel “Democracy and Diversity in a Global Perspective.” On December 5th at 9:30 AM he will address the issue of “Islam and Politics: Faith, Governance and Society”. The events will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Wharf.

On December 4th at 6:00 PM Anwar IBrahim will deliver the 2009 Herb Feith Lecture at the Melbourne City Convention Centre on “Asia After the Crisis: Recovery and Reform”. The lecture is cosponsored by the Monash Asia Institute, the Herb Feith Foundation, the Monash University Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology, the RMIT Globalism Research Centre and the University of Melbourne National Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies. The public lecture is presented in honour of one of Australia’s finest scholars, Herb Feith. The convention center is located at 333 Swanson Street.

Office of Anwar Ibrahim