Kuala Lumpur: After a botched bid to oust the government in September, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will likely have to bide his time until elections in 2012-13 before making another bid for power.

From watershed elections in March to his triumphant return to parliament after a decade's absence, Anwar dominated the headlines. Even his arrest and trial on fresh sodomy charges failed to thwart his campaign to topple the government by his self-imposed deadline of Sept. 16.

Victory seemed within his grasp when the government apparently felt compelled to ship 40 MPs to Taiwan on a "study trip" in mid-September to prevent them from defecting to Anwar's camp and thus giving him a majority in parliament.

The deadline passed. Financial turmoil swept the globe, and with an economic slowdown looming, voters in this Asian country of 27 million people suddenly had more immediate worries than Malysia's chronic political intrigue.

Now the 61-year-old Anwar, whose People's Justice Party holds its annual convention this weekend, has to explain why he is not addressing the meeting as the new prime minister of Malaysia.

"His (Anwar's) strategy of haste that he adopted after March 8 (elections) stopped working after Abdullah was forced to retire," said Ooi Kee Beng, an analyst at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

"Now, he has to do it the patient way."

Lacklustre Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi essentially derailed Anwar's express train to power by deciding to hand power to his more assured deputy, Najib Razak, earlier than planned.

Source : Reuters