When former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was released by the Federal Court in a surprising 2-1 decision, the vigor and vitality so characteristic of Anwar were clearly missing. Gone was the clenched fist raised in the air as a sign of defiance.

Impaired by his chronic back injury, which was aggravated by the abuse he had received at the hands of the former police chief, the charismatic leader could only emphasise the urgency of his immediate surgery overseas.

Anwar's physical frailty, paralleled by the secular decline of his populist support, where his wife's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) merely has one parliamentary seat, even that from a razor-thin majority in the March 2004 election, collectively does not deter Anwar from the thought of staging a comeback.

To be sure, the bravado of Anwar could well boil down to the indomitable belief of a 'conviction politician' - one who is animated more by ideals rather than the reality and limitations at hand.