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Malaysian dissident now eyes world stage: Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar, recently out of jail, hopes to bridge Muslim-West divide. (Simon Montlake, 11/23/04, CS Monitor)

Six years in a solitary prison cell afforded Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, plenty of time for reflection.

When not reliving his own downfall, he dwelled at length on the divide between the West and the Islamic world, and what could be done to repair the rift. As premier-in-waiting in the 1990s, he had moved easily across this fault line, a symbol of Malaysia's moderate brand of Islam harnessed to economic success.

Now, two months after being freed by an appeals court, Malaysia's most famous dissident is preparing for another turn on the international stage, this time as a broker of sorts between US neoconservatives and the Muslim world. He has accepted a fellowship next year at Oxford University and plans to spend much of his time rekindling old relationships. His admirers - among them former Vice President Al Gore and current Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz - cross party lines. [...]

Anwar says this range of contacts gives him the latitude to chide both the US for riding roughshod over Muslim sensitivities and leaders of Muslim countries for holding the US to standards they may not meet themselves. Choosing his words carefully, he argues that the US is right to advocate reform in Muslim countries run by unelected dictators, though it can't be imposed by force, as in Iraq.

"I think the [US] has a point here, in trying to drive and influence and do whatever we can to ensure that the people regain their freedom, not according to the dictates of America, but their own homegrown democracy," he says.

Anwar says he plans to use his time at Oxford to explore ways of promoting reforms in the Islamic world and more nuanced US policies in that direction. "I think I will be more successful by supporting existing initiatives by some credible groups. I think that would be more useful than starting an initiative on my own," he says.