Thursday September 3, 6:07 am Eastern Time

TEXT-Statement by Malaysia's Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The following is a partial text of a
written statement, translated by Reuters from Bahasa Malaysia, which the
sacked Malaysian finance minister Anwar Ibrahim issued at a news conference
on Thursday:

``Malaysia is wrestling with a bitter challenge. The miracle economy which
was a source of pride is now more of a mirage, like a beautiful dream. Now
it is shocked by the bitter bite of reality.

The people will suffer because of the economic turmoil. Many will be
jobless. The number of poor will rise. So we have to combine our strength
and the resilience of the people to overcome the turmoil.

But believe me that the economic problem is only one of a host of
challenges which we are facing. We are faced with the problems of politics,
social, culture, moral. Every problem if left to itself will become rotten.
All of them require attention and have to be solved with wisdom and
according to priority.

We are also faced with problems which emerged with the birth of a new era.
The economic turmoil is not the source of the suffering now, but it is due
to our failure to make adjustments to the new era. We have already entered
the new era. The era of globalisation. The era of information explosion. We
may not be able to overcome the challenges without making changes.

The time to launch a reformation has arrived. We must have a clear agenda.
We must also decide on the ways, methods, rhythm and pace of reformation.
The reformation is demanded from within, not due to external pressure. From
the Islamic perspective it is in line with a Koranic verse: ``...There is
nothing that I want except to make a success according to my ability.''

Therefore, let there not be groups who are accusing it of being an external
conspiracy. We are opposed to any conspiracy. We are Malaysian patriots. We
oppose external conspiracies. We will also fight conspiracies from within.
We fight against external tyranny. But we must also fight any tyranny from
within the country and in the midst of our society. It is not a question of
East or West, North or South. It is a question of justice. We must oppose
tyranny, be it from the East or from the West.

The people demand reformation. The voice of reformation is the voice of the
people. The cry of the people's hearts. But there is a small group who are
worried about the wave of reformation. They are among those engaged in
bribery, who are afraid their crimes will be exposed. Those who abuse power
and position are scared. Those wealthy merchants who heap riches through
practices of nepotism and cronyism are like worms under the sun.

Don't be fooled and deceived by those who are afraid of the wave of
reformation. They are void of ideas, repeatedly playing old songs. They are
afraid of the new generation. Hence, they create a bogeyman to frighten the
people. Only children can be frightened by the bogeyman. We have been
independent for 41 years. As an independent nation, we have reached adulthood.

The people need to unite in order to face the new generation. But the unity
of the people flows from the unity of the leaders. The people stand behind
the leaders. They will not scatter if their leaders do not quarrel with one
another. Solid unity cannot be obtained if the leaders are always preaching
unity, but allowing the elements that incite them to quarrel, to roam free
right in front of the people's eyes.

Since I was appointed as Deputy President of UMNO (United Malays National
Organisation), I have always reiterated my loyalty to the party's
president. I trust in the wisdom of the UMNO members. When they are asked
to make decisions, especially at crucial moments, they will always make
wise decisions. They want stability and unity within the party. They want
the party to always be strengthened and be given new strength through the
replacement of old leaders with new ones.`
______________________________________________