Anwar Ibrahim is free. So is the Malaysian press.

I mean, the dailies that have plagued the Malaysian public with official news and BN propagandistic writings, masqueraded as commentaries, are now free to mention the name Anwar Ibrahim and, more importantly, carry his images.

After his convictions of corruption and sodomy, Anwar disappeared immediately from the Malaysian media. When news about him was too important to ignore, the story was often buried deep inside the pages.

Quite clearly, the powers-that-be, be they at the news desks of Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian or the New Straits Times, or sitting comfortably in Putrajaya, were working untiringly to ensure Anwar remained a non-person in the public's mind.

The entire episode could not be more surreal. Just before Sept 2, the ghost of Anwar seemed to have been completely exorcised from Malaysian society, much to the despair of those who saw him as a victim of ultimate injustice.

However, after Sept 2, the best known former deputy prime minister of Malaysia became instantly alive and relevant again.

The Chinese press

In the heyday of reformasi, as waves of protests were taking place across Kuala Lumpur, it was joked that a major beneficiary was actually the Chinese press.

Just when the Malay and the English dailies were toeing the government line and playing jester to Dr Mahathir Mohamed by demonising Anwar, Chinese newspapers were dishing out pages of pictures of the demonstrations.

This prompted many Malays and Indians to grab a copy to relish the content, their inability to read Chinese notwithstanding. Nearly all of the Chinese dailies saw their circulations shoot up.

Thus, it would not be farfetched to think the Chinese press is again reaping the benefits of Anwar's release from jail.

The Malay and the English newspapers are not as generous in carrying pictures of Anwar's supporters welcoming their icon from outside the Federal Court, visiting him at his home in Bukit Damansara, and sending him off at the airport to Germany for medical treatment.

Even Sin Chew Daily, the very newspaper that attempted to airbrush the face of Anwar mysteriously from a group picture in 1999, was enthusiastic about Anwar being set free.

Although, one of its reporters was rather too honest, bordering on bluntness, in admitting how much he/she hoped the Federal Court would maintain the verdict on Anwar so that all journalists, already overloaded with assignments, could be spared more work. Some journalist from a broadsheet!

Faced with this incredible news, hitherto the greatest sign of the 'renaissance' of the Malaysian judiciary, I certainly couldn't be jotting and joshing last weekend. But I was no doubt smiling and feeling relieved.

Having endured years of political suffocation, I finally found some breathing space to air my pent-up feelings. And I was not the only one.

The morning after his sodomy conviction was quashed, a breakfast programme on 988, a popular Chinese radio station, was openly courting public opinions on Anwar's new-found freedom.

The two hosts appeared overwhelmed and became carried away themselves, repeating words like 'great', 'good' and 'encouraging' ecstatically. I used to be disdainful of the mainstream electronic media in Malaysia, but the cynic streak in me must have underestimated the intelligence of the two female DJs.

Perhaps they too, were secretly hoping that they would one day be allowed to host radio shows freely and responsibly? The return of Anwar to the public sphere certainly brings hope to people from all walks of life, and no less so to many media professionals.

Amidst the euphoria is hidden a detectable air of suspicion: will Anwar follow in the footsteps of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and return to the Umno fold for the grand unity of the Malay community?

Staunch Anwar supporters certainly want him to carry the reformasi torch and hold the fort, but if the ban from active politics is to run its full course, Anwar will only be allowed to assume a political role in April 2008. A week is too long in politics, and four years would be like eternity open for all possibilities.

Chinese Malaysians are particularly ambivalent and sceptical about Anwar, with good reasons. Liew Chin Tong, a political commentator currently pursuing his post-graduate studies in Australia, wrote in the Oriental Daily News, that when he went to visit the sacked deputy prime minister six years ago, certain people in the Chinese education movement were not too pleased with his action. This attitude of some of the Chinese educationists, in my view, is perfectly understandable.

After all, it was Anwar Ibrahim, who as education minister, posted non-Mandarin qualified administrators to a number of Chinese primary schools in 1987, a move that touched off strong protest from the Chinese community and sowed the seed of communal dispute between the Malays and the Chinese later that year.

The incident led to the Operasi Lallang, which saw several high-profile Chinese educationists detained under the Internal Security Act. Anwar did not lift a finger to oppose the use of the draconian law by Dr Mahathir.

As youth leader of Umno and eager to be seen championing Malay rights and privileges throughout the 1980s, Anwar also alienated a large part of the Chinese community with his fiery remarks.

The many faces of Anwar

I once felt deeply uneasy with him as deputy prime minister, just as I am now most wary of Najib Abdul Razak being the man most likely to succeed Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the not too distant future, for similar reasons.

Indeed, the Anwar Ibrahim of the past put on so many political masks of different shapes and sizes, that it is really not easy to tell Anwar the ex-Umno No 2, from Anwar the reformist; prompting Philip Bowring to ask 'which Anwar Ibrahim walks free?' in the International Herald Tribune, (although it is advisable to take his opinions with a pinch of salt).

Given his recent articles, highly favourable to Malaysia, that appeared in the NST, I suspect Bowring, who once wrote an excellently critical piece on Dr Mahathir in Prospect , a serious, thought-provoking British magazine, way back in 1999, seems to have been 'co-opted' by the Abdullah-led government.

Yes, even western journalists have a life to live, too.

When Anwar was sacked from Mahathir's cabinet in September 1998 and arrested under the ISA, I was shocked to the extreme. The way his fortunes nose-dived - from acting prime minister, acting Umno President and finance minister in mid 1997 to a pariah 15 months later - speaks volumes of the preposterousness of Malaysian politics.

When he was brought to court with the now world famous (or infamous) black eye, I was flabbergasted and infuriated; so were my foreign friends in London at the time.

By God's grace, I was able to put aside my personal reservations about Anwar and decided not to see the incident in ethnic terms. In short, I refused to allow racial colouring to get in my way and cloud the vitally important issue of justice and human rights.

I am glad that many non-Malays, such as Tian Chua, Sivarasa Rasiah and those in the civil society movement, walked ahead of me in this respect, setting the examples for others to follow suit, with some even paying the price of personal freedom in between.

What Anwar went through post-Sept 1998, has set in motion a series of changes and reforms in Malaysia, despite the ruling Barisan Nasional's attempt to pretend otherwise.

To re-join Umno would be akin to turning back the clock, a retrogressive move with catastrophic consequences. Right now, it is Anwar himself who is best placed to prevent this catastrophe from becoming a reality, thereby strengthening the faith of others in a better Malaysia.

But before that, Anwar should stop uttering his unceasing thanks to Prime Minister Abdullah for what should indeed have been a just and fair decision of the court. If anything, it was first and foremost a D-Day for the Malaysian people and the judiciary, not the executive branch. Period.