I totally agree with Charles Hector that Anwar Ibrahim does not have to "thank the PM for his release" based on his reason that the Federal Court was the only authority that was responsible.
It would seem to me that even our 'Renaissance Man' is still infected by the anachronistic feudal mindset that most Malays still suffer from, in the mistaken belief that this is part of our tradition which we must keep alive.
It would also explain the clamour for the anachronistic title of 'Datuk' by our middle class which is apparently important in the culture of 'Malaysia Boleh (Bodek?)' as established by our erstwhile former premier, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Anwar was imprisoned in the 20th century and was released in the 21st century and I hope that while in prison he has used the time to reflect upon his own transition from a Datuk Seri 'Golden Boy' to the current Saudara Anwar Ibrahim ex-convict.
Let's hope that he has lost his ingenuous and naive trust in authority figures (the Hang Tuah syndrome), a product of feudal Malay tradition and institutionalised religion.
The oft-repeated claim of Malaysia being a 'multicultural nation' is only true in the multicultural aspect of the term while we are still some long way off from being truly a 'nation'.
Currently, from my perspective, there is the Umno notion of 'nation' while PAS and DAP also have their own individual ideas of nationhood, all based on some degree of sectarian or communitarian prerogatives.
If Anwar still harbours aspirations of being a leader of this country, he must first of all jettison most of the attitudes he picked up from his stint in Umno and the BN government under the leadership of Mahathir.
Anwar must adopt a truly unitary and inclusive paradigm where race and religion are never of state or public concern (i.e. your race and your religion are your own private and personal concerns).
Politics is not necessarily a dirty game. It can be practiced with integrity, honesty, charity, tolerance, understanding and compassion - all of which are intrinsic human qualities which we sometimes forgo for the sake of power.
Therefore, the first priority for Saudara Anwar if he wants to remain relevant to the Malaysian political consciousness - which is inexorably developing towards unity as the critical mass of the educated begins to grow - is to categorically make his position known vis-a-vis Umno, the Islamic state concept and the corrupt feudal practices in the country, amongst others.
Finally, he must declare his belief in a democracy where the nation's sovereignty lies with the people and not in some other entity and will promote practices, especially in government dealings, which will reflect this.
