'Some men are born great. Yet others achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them' - William Shakespeare

In a matter of a month, Malaysia's most celebrated cause celebre has gone from being a virtual political outcast to folk hero.

Released from jail a year ago, the speed at which former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's rehabilitation is taking place is almost breathtaking.

Since then, he has received an apology from ex-police chief Rahim Noor for the injuries he suffered while in custody - symbolised internationally by the infamous 'black eye'.

And only last week, he turned the tables on the author of the infamous book chronicling his character defects, which not only earned him his vindication but also made him richer by a few million ringgit.

Anwar, therefore has returned or is at least returning! And who can blame him whenever he smiles thinking about this?

With destiny now on his side, is it any wonder if he chooses to declare his aspirations to be prime minister one day?

Is it also any wonder that this whole episode is placing him straight in the mould of Shakespeare's dictum - that the events beginning from September 1998 onwards is somewhat taking him to the path of greatness - by default?

Maybe yes, may be not

But what does not need reassuring is that these are, indeed, interesting times in Malaysia's history. And rather, ironically, if anybody had missed a parallel, Anwar's comeback bears an uncanny resemblance to what his own nemesis, Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself went through decades ago.

Castigated and banished into the political wilderness for his strident views stemming partly from his book titled, The Malay Dilemma , the former premier uncovered the very same path to stardom that his once deputy is now discovering.

So it is indeed interesting, to know that one's food cannot after all be another man's poison.

Food, is food all the same. Now that both Anwar and Mahathir have eaten from the same political plates metaphorically said, nothing beats saying that the man Mahathir wanted rid off, has risen from his political grave.

And how that has been gaining currency is evidenced by the innumerable times he has been courted by local and the foreign media for commentaries.

So he is Malaysia's comeback kid to what former US president, Bill Clinton was to his people.

Moral dimension

And like the greatness he is seeking through his relentless campaign of redress, what is unmistakable is the moral dimension of his return.

By reversing history and rewriting the way it accurately reflects reality, Anwar is the person to watch from now onwards.

Be on the lookout for the strategies he is deploying to win back what he must have privately mused as being robbed off the premiership.

And by giving every one of his actions a moral stamp, he is also doing what Clinton did 13 years ago, over the moral quandary triggered by the Vietnam War.

Instead of serving in it, the former president avoided conscription citing the war's illegitimacy which history later vindicated. And what happened next, as they used to say, was history. History by the election of a one-time draft dodger to his nation's highest office.

So it is probably the same with Anwar.

From the high pedestal of deputy premiership to the dungeons of Bukit Aman, Anwar is more than a cause celebre. He is a political force, clearly for the present and the future.

The court rulings and apologies have corroborated that he is a proven victim of injustice. Apart from the moral victories he is securing apace, the battles he is waging can be akin to what Malaysia's famous general of the anti communist insurgency, General Gerald Templar, did, winning the hearts and minds of his people.

That he is steadily on his way back to stardom bears scrutiny to yet another of Shakespeare's verses, "They say best men are moulded out of faults and for most, become much more the better for being a little bad."

That should aptly describe Anwar as he now is or appropriately his mood. More wronged than being wrong, the present climate of slow and steady vindication cannot make him any better for the faults and escapades he once stood wrongly accused of.

JAYA PRAKASH lectures in journalism in Singapore.