We watched with much interest the release of Anwar Ibrahim, who, with his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, has many friends and supporters here in Australia.

We wish him well and prays he has a speedy recovery from an ordeal which could have been avoided had the independence of the Malaysian judiciary been respected and upheld.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahamd Badawi deserves to be congratulated for his courage to return independence to the judiciary.

Let's hope that democracy and freedom of expression will now walk hand in hand in this 'New Malaysia'. This is a time all Malaysians should be proud of.

This is what Merdeka is all about!