Some time ago, I wrote about former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim being Malaysia's comeback kid, comparing this with no other a person than former US president Bill Clinton.

If the crowds Anwar pulled at the Pasir Mas town in Kelantan are anything to go by, it is clear indication that there is more to this comeback kid than what meets the eye.

To begin with, he has resurrected from his political grave.

And his resurrection, like that of political martyrs before him, continues to reinforce his moral position, giving him every scrap of energy he needs to continue with his reformasi programme.

Like Victor Hugo's famous dictum of "no force on earth can ever stop an idea whose time has come"; that much and many more is now seen in the Anwar resurrection.

Can anyone stop this man?

Well that depends on the needs of the times that give capital to the moral force in Anwar, searching for answers to the general sense of paralysis now occurring in Malaysia.

First, there was the scandal of Approved Permits (AP) scheme that nearly cost the political life of International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz. Then, Bank Islam's financial losses became yet another rallying point.

To cap it all off in a sense of dj vu to what Anwar experienced after his arrest on Sept 2, 1998, the shocking video clip of a nude woman performing 'ear-squats' at a police station, must have galvanised popular opinion enough to lend his fledgling crusade for justice the ammunition it needs.

So welcome back Anwar, umpteen times, because Malaysia is crying out for an alternative.

And because he shares with Clinton a very charismatic personality, the powers-that-be should not take it lightly.

If history provides better understanding of what that means, the 1992 US presidential election that dogged Clinton with not too dissimilar stains of impropriety, turned around quickly enough to propel a little-known political virgin into the Oval office.

Could he end up as power broker?

Game of expedience

Now imagine this. After speaking at rally for PAS, many would have certainly wondered why Anwar would choose to assist a party that he used to attack and whose ideology differed markedly from the one himself espoused when being in Umno?

Well, that's only because politics is a strange game of alliances and perfidies that the strangest of people become bedfellows.

Yet, it is a game of expedience that only the most astute among those in the likes of Anwar, know that it is through expedience that one realises the art of the possible called national politics.

For those crying and hurling abuse at any hint of alleged treachery, one only needs to look at premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was once in political wilderness over differences with the Umno leadership.

So there is nothing wrong with what Anwar is doing. He is doing only what Pak Lah did once and playing by the rules of the game. And if his ambition means doing something good for Malaysia, that should be encouraged.

Like former US president John Adams whose unpopularity was due to speaking his mind on many issues but who nevertheless kept the interests of this constituents at heart, Anwar too, is beginning show some of those vicar-like status.

In other words, what his political ostracisation may wind up into is of him turning into some kind of a power broker between fractious elements of the Umno and opposition aficionados.

And for that to happen, there are plenty of issues that divide between them sharply and of central interest to the constituents of both parties.

Fresh energy

As matters stand, nobody in their honest opinion stands at all enthused over the pace of the push to wipe out corruption.

Nor are people taking confidence over periodic allegations of police brutality, which Anwar knew about first hand. It continues despite denials.

All this and much more such cries for a new man with a fresh burst of energy to expiate what is wrong with the nation-state of Malaysia.

And if anybody wants any confirmation of that, revisit the rally at Pasir Mas; for the groundswell of disaffection affected by Umno.

The ruling party for all its campaigns to discredit him may actually turn Anwar into a power broker, for all it knows.

That perhaps could even turn out worse for Umno.

PRAKASH lectures in journalism at Beacon School of Technology in Singapore.