The Finance Minister at the time, Anwar Ibrahim (also a Deputy Prime Minister), instituted a series of economic reforms and austerity measures in response. These actions were exacerbated when he tabled controversial amendments to the Anti Corruption Act that sought to increase the powers of the Anti Corruption Agency.[4] Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad disagreed with these measures and ultimately sacked Anwar from all his posts.[5] This incident and the circumstances in which it happened led to a public outcry in what became known as the Reformasi movement but it also resulted in the arrest and subsequent incarceration of Anwar on what many believe to be politically motivated charges of sexual misconduct and corruption.[6] Building on the momentum of the Reformasi, a political movement called the Social Justice Movement (Malay: Pergerakan Keadilan Sosial) (Adil) was formed and led by Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of Anwar. But facing difficulties in registering Adil as a political party, the reformasi movement took over a small party Ikatan Masyarakat Islam Malaysia (IKATAN) and launched as National Justice Party (Malay: Parti Keadilan Nasional) on 4 April 1999, just in time to face the 1999 general elections.[7] The party have been noted as having rough similarities with the now-defunct multi-racial social democratic Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia (Pekemas).[8] The party was joined by the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Malaysian People's Party (PRM) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) in a broad based electoral alliance known as Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front) to take on the ruling BN coalition in the 1999 general elections.