Years of protracted courtroom battles and political mudslinging reached their peak on Monday in Malaysia as the country's High Court issued its ruling that the country's leading opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was not guilty of sodomy.

According to Agence France Presse (AFP), Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah found Anwar free of any guilt from the sexual misconduct charges that the Malaysian government had pursued for years to purportedly put back the popular opposition leader behind bars.

Anwar, who was first locked up in 1998 on a separate but identical sex case, has consistently maintained his innocence and instead accused the government of concocting the charges to neutralise him and prevent him from seeking a public office.

His claims, Malaysian watchers said, carry some weights as a conviction would have sent him to jail for at least 20 years, sufficient grounds for his automatic disqualification from ever holding an official or elective post in Malaysia.

The case stemmed from accusations aired in 2008 by Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a former aide, that Anwar had abused him June that year.

Government prosecutors, observers noted, eagerly picked up the case and launched their case against the opposition figure, producing even a DNA sample that they claimed pointed to the fact that Anwar sodomised his then 23-year-old underling.

Saiful, according to government prosecutors, was forced by the former UMNO stalwart to perform anal sex with him, an act that local media reports said is prohibited in the generally conservative Islamic nation.

The new accusations and its conclusion today reminded Malaysians of Anwar's roller coaster ride that started in the early 1990s, when then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was grooming him as would-be successor following his more than two decades of rule.

As Mahathir's protégé in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Anwar was rewarded with major cabinet posts, first as Finance Minister then as Deputy Prime Minister, holding key government responsibilities that undoubtedly were preparing the rising UMNO star as the party's next in line.

Anwar's luck, however, dried up as bickers between the two erupted and persisted, which were further highlighted when Anwar displayed his disapproval of some of the tactics employed then by Mahathir in addressing the economic turmoil that had ravaged many South East Asian economies, including Malaysia.

By 1998, Anwar found himself out of Mahathir's favour as he was forced out of UMNO and then sacked from the cabinet, with the events serving as a precursor on what the opposition leader then termed as spirited conspiracy to get rid of him and leave him in total ruins.

Almost the same period saw prominent world leaders battling their shares of sex scandals that either decimated their popularity or precipitated their departure from office.

Politics and Sex Scandals

U.S. President Bill Clinton was impeached by the U.S. Congress following numerous allegations of womanising in the White House and before his ascension to the top post, which were highlighted by his sexual encounters with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton admitted in the end that he lied about the Lewinsky affair but the U.S. Senate had decided that the President's misadventures were not enough to throw him out of office. He was acquitted.

In Asia, Philippine President Joseph Estrada, a known friend of Anwar, was dogged by accusations of corruption and misbehaviours, among them gambling and womanising, which eventually launched a popular uprising that abridged his rule.

Estrada, like Anwar before him, was imprisoned and convicted of plunder and other charges but escaped prolonged incarceration when his successor issued a presidential pardon.

On the other hand, Anwar's earlier conviction of the first sodomy case was overturned by the Malaysian High Court in 2004, quickly erasing the disgrace that his opponents had hope would reduce him to political oblivion.

Yet his incredible recovery following his release from prison was underscored by the stunning victory achieved by the opposition under his informal leadership, handing the ruling National Front a humiliating setback during the March 2008 general elections.

The reversals, analysts said, marked the gradual decline of the entrenched rule of Anwar's former party, the UMNO, which is now part of the coalition National Front.

Anwar's second legal battle, again anchored on controversial sodomy allegations, was viewed by many as plain harassment of a man touted to eventually ease out the dominance long-enjoyed by Malaysia's conservative rulers.

His acquittal today tipped for a likely full-throttle comeback in the Malaysian political scene after enduring years of humiliation and struggles and the inevitable exit of his former patron, Mahathir, who ironically engineered both his rise and downfall in the 1990s.

With the sex case now most likely behind him, Anwar's major concern for now is to convince Malaysians and the international community, not just his ardent supporters, that he can refocus the country's energy into repairing and further expanding the domestic economy.

Leaning to his favour for now are some media reports that painted Anwar to the West as the most capable alternative to an old-school rule that experts said is on its way out.

At the same time though, suggestions coming various quarters that the firebrand activism, which Anwar displayed in his younger years may not have been lost after all and could creep back into his leadership approach once he gets to the top.

Yet in recent interactions with media personnel, Anwar had intimated that his major concern, post his sodomy trial, is to play a unifying leadership role for all Malaysians and not to shore up his political fortunes.