While millions of Malaysians watch a live telecast of Mahathir handing power to Anwar's former rival today, Azizah Ismail said her husband will be in his cell reading Shakespeare, his favourite writer, or thinking: "When am I going to get out of this place and see my children?" "He doesn't have TV, he doesn't have radio," Azizah said yesterday in an interview with The Associated Press.

"He's in solitary confinement.

It does get to him, but he doesn't want to show it".

As Mahathir's deputy prime minister for five years in the 1990s, Anwar was once among Malaysia's most powerful men, moving easily in international circles and accustomed to having teams of underlings on hand to meet his needs.

But Mahathir and Anwar fell out while the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis was ravaging Malaysia's economy, and Mahathir eventually sacked Anwar, who was then also finance minister.

Anwar was arrested in September 1998 after leading massive protests demanding Mahathir's removal.

He was later convicted of corruption and sodomy and given prison sentences totalling 15 years.

Mahathir, who denies Anwar's claims that he orchestrated a conspiracy against his one-time protege, said earlier this month that firing Anwar was the toughest decision of his 22-year leadership - and that he had once been ready to retire in 1998, and hand over power to Anwar.

On the eve of his retirement, Mahathir recited a line from Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar', when asked by reporters if he fears Malaysians will forget him after he steps down.

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones," Mahathir said.

"I don't care if people remember me or not".

Azizah said Malaysians would remember Mahathir for bringing economic progress and industrialisation to this Southeast Asian country - but that "there is unfinished business, the way he has handled my husband's case".

"It will be remembered with some regret that there is a blemish in his legacy," Azizah said.

Anwar (56) believes Mahathir has not shown "even a strain of humanitarian feeling" toward him in the last five years, Azizah said.

"He found it inconceivable, the way he has been treated now," Azizah said.

"He didn't expect the situation to be so harsh and unrelenting".

Azizah, who is allowed one 30-minute visit a week with Anwar, said she hoped incoming prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would heed human rights groups' calls for Anwar's release, saying "it will be a great thing for him to do".

Anwar, who was Abdullah's political rival within the ruling United Malays National Organization for many years, hopes Abdullah will create a more transparent government and "wishes him well", Azizah said.

Azizah, who formed an opposition party after Anwar's arrest and was elected to Parliament in 1999, criticised the government for refusing repeated requests since 2001 to let Anwar travel to Germany for surgery for a back ailment.

He claims the problem was caused partly by a 1998 beating by the former national police chief.

Anwar is kept isolated in the prison's hospital complex wing, away from more than 3 000 other inmates.

He has described his cell as having a hospital bed, tap water and lavatory, as well as a plastic chair and a small table for writing and reading.

The injury keeps Anwar confined to a wheelchair, but Azizah said he has only ever complained to her about one thing - the big rats in his cell.

"The cats were afraid of the rats, because they were so big," Azizah said.

"The cats ran away.

We laughed at it, but it shows it's hard".

Azizah rarely speaks at length about Anwar's incarceration, though her National Justice Party retains him as its figurehead and main political issue.

"I really miss him ...

It's been five years.

I don't want to cry anymore," Azizah added, fighting back tears.

"I don't like to talk too much on the personal details, because I get very emotional".

She said imprisonment has changed Anwar - in some ways for the better.

"He's more tolerant now," Azizah said.

"When he was in power, he was very impatient to get things done.

Now he has time" to do more thinking.

- Nampa-AP

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