The crowd stirs as he makes his way toward the microphone. "Long live Anwar!" goes the chant as he squeezes through, smiling, shaking outstretched hands. He shouts to the crowd: "To defend the interests of the people, to uphold justice, to guarantee equal treatment for all, let us undertake reformasi!" The ecstatic reply: "Reformasi! Reformasi! Reformasi," a term borrowed from Indonesia that entails broad political and economic reform.

That was Tuesday, just another night at the Kuala Lumpur home of Anwar Ibrahim--except that the audience was three times as big as the evening before. Each night several thousand supporters fill his house, his garden and the surrounding streets, where merchants do a brisk trade in food, drink and tapes of Anwar's speeches. "If they charge him with a crime, they are making a big mistake," says worker Eric Bastian, 50, on his fourth visit. "Look at this crowd! The people want him back."

In all the excitement it would be easy to forget that, politically speaking, Anwar has just fallen off a cliff. Barely a week earlier, he was Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister, deputy president of the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's anointed successor. Today Anwar is unemployed. He could be arrested at any time. Expelled from the party, he is trying to refute a host of damaging allegations, ranging from sexual misconduct to sedition. Many UMNO officials appear to have written him off. "Anwar cannot win, fighting against Mahathir," says former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ghaffar Baba. "I pity him. He has wasted his talent for political leadership."

But Anwar is refusing to go quietly. He maintains that the claims of misbehavior have been fabricated as part of a high-level conspiracy to unseat him. Several influential political and religious groups have spoken in his defense, and his followers are busily distributing pamphlets, badges and bumper stickers proclaiming his innocence and calling for sweeping reforms. With or without a party, Anwar is launching a spirited opposition movement, and it is gathering momentum. "I never supported him," says Bastian, "but I would like to at this time because he has been unjustly treated and he will stand up against corruption and nepotism."

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R E L A T E D   S T O R I E S :

COVER STORY Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad banishes Anwar
CRANKY OLD MAN The PM has a history of lashing out
VIEWPOINT Mahathir rails against financial orthodoxy
INTERVIEW Anwar explains what went wrong
OUT OF LINE Where does the ex-heir go from here?
POLL Does former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have a future in Malaysian politics?
POLL Will the new currency controls help or hurt the Malaysian economy?